Category: Libro de Ejercicios

The light has come.

1. The light has come.

²You have been healed, and you can heal.

³The light has come.

⁴You have been saved, and you can save.

⁵You are at peace, and you bring peace with you wherever you go.

⁶Darkness, conflict, and death have disappeared.

⁷The light has come.

2. Today we celebrate the happy ending to your long dream of disaster.

²No more dark dreams will now be yours.

³The light has come.

⁴Today begins the era of light for you and for everyone.

⁵It is a new era, in which a new world is born.

⁶The old one has left no trace upon it.

⁷Today we see a different world, because the light has come.

3. Our exercises for today will be joyous ones, in which we give thanks for the fading of the old and the beginning of the new.

²There are no shadows from the past to cloud our sight or hide the world forgiveness offers us.

³Today we will accept the new world as we want to see it.

⁴What we desire will be given us.

⁵It is our will to see the light.

⁶The light has come.

4. We will devote our longer practice periods today to looking at the world that our forgiveness shows us.

²That is what we want to see, and only that.

³Our single purpose makes our goal inevitable.

⁴Today the real world rises before us in gladness, to be seen at last.

⁵Vision is given us now that the light has come.

⁶Today we do not see the shadow of the ego upon the world.

⁷We see the light, and in it Heaven’s reflection shining on the world. ^I

5. Begin the longer practice periods by telling yourself the glad tidings of your release: ^II

²The light has come.

³I have forgiven the world.

6. Do not dwell on the past today.

²Keep a completely open mind, washed of all past ideas and cleared of every concept you have made.

³You have forgiven the world today.

⁴You can now look upon it as if you had never seen it before.

⁵You do not yet know what it looks like.

⁶You merely wait to have it shown to you.

⁷As you wait, say this several times, slowly and with great patience:

⁸The light has come.

⁹I have forgiven the world.

7. Realize that your forgiveness entitles you to vision.

²Understand that the Holy Spirit never fails to give the gift of sight to those who forgive.

³Trust that He will not fail you now.

⁴You have forgiven the world.

⁵The Holy Spirit will be with you as you watch and wait. ^III

⁶He will show you what true vision sees.

⁷This is His Will, and you have joined with Him.

8. Wait patiently for Him.

²He will be there.

³The light has come.

⁴You have forgiven the world.

⁵Tell Him you know you cannot fail because you trust in Him.

⁶And tell yourself you wait in certainty to look upon the world He promised you.

⁷From this time on, you will see differently.

⁸The light has come today,

⁹And you will see the world that has been promised since the beginning of time and in which time itself will end.

9. The shorter practice periods will be joyful reminders of your release.

²Remind yourself about every fifteen minutes that today is a time for special celebration.

³Give thanks for God’s Mercy and His Love.

⁴Be glad you have the power to release your vision completely through forgiveness. ^IV

⁵Be confident that today marks a new beginning.

⁶Without the darkness of the past upon your eyes, you cannot fail to see today.

⁷And what you see will be so welcome that you will gladly extend today forever.

10. Then say:

²The light has come.

³I have forgiven the world.

⁴If you are tempted, say to anyone who seems to pull you back into darkness:

⁵The light has come.

⁶I have forgiven you.

11. Let us devote this day to the serenity in which God would have us be.

²Keep it in your awareness of yourself, and see it everywhere.

³Today we celebrate the beginning of your vision of the real world, which has come to take the place of the one you made and thought was real.

---

^I It is quite possible that the statement in today’s Lesson may at first seem to you an abstraction—a lovely affirmation describing a somewhat fanciful experience filled with good intentions. It may give the impression that Jesus is an idealist who expresses Himself poetically to encourage you toward the achievement of something that, deep down, you consider impossible.

Nothing could be further from the truth. His statement is absolutely precise, completely true, and unfailingly fulfilled. The problem is that you have not read it carefully. You have not noticed what Jesus is actually saying. Read again the first line of this paragraph. Notice that it says we will see “…the world that our forgiveness shows us.” The key to everything is “our forgiveness.”

It is impossible to see the light of Heaven shining upon the world unless you forgive it—but it is also impossible not to see it if you do.

Then read carefully the next line: “That is what we want to see, and only that.” If that is indeed your will, remember that your will is always perfectly fulfilled. You are the Son of God, and such is your power.

If you choose to believe that you are a fragile and vulnerable human being, condemned to die, that is what you will believe you see, for that is the power of your beliefs. But if you assume your true identity, you will work miracles within the dream of the world, and while your eyes are not yet fully open, you will behold a world upon which the light of Heaven shines.

It is still a dream, but through your forgiveness the light has entered your nightmare and transformed it completely; now it is a happy dream. That is what Jesus calls “the real world.” It is certainly not real, but it had to be given a name. In it you still see changing forms and contrasts, yet now the light is reflected in everything, and all begins to taste of Heaven, where all is one.

Understand well that this Course is very simple. It offers you only one idea: place all your will in forgiving absolutely everything, and place it only there. And you can be sure that the third line of this same paragraph is completely true: “Our single purpose makes our goal inevitable.” And then the light comes.

This Lesson is the logical conclusion of the preceding ones: W-pI.72: “I want to forgive, and I do forgive”; W-pI.73: “I want there to be light”; W-pI.74: “God wants there to be light”; W-pI.75: “The light has come.” Today’s Lesson is cause for celebration—the natural result of having forgiven illusions and aligned the mind with truth.

^II Luke 1:19 “And the angel answered and said to him, ‘I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.’”

^III You may think that forgiving from the heart is very difficult, but that is the opinion of your egoic mind, which is completely irrational and utterly false. Your ego is deceiving you. You are deceiving yourself.

The situation is exactly this: imagine a person who, with his right hand, is squeezing his own throat while crying out with tears in his eyes, “Help! I’m choking!” Well, that is precisely your situation. Of course you are choking! You are choking yourself!

You say that forgiving is very difficult. You are aware that your judgments are embittering your life. You know perfectly well that your own judgments depend solely on you.

What is happening there? Look closely, for there lies the key to your liberation.

^IV Notice once again that the key to your salvation lies in your hands—in your own forgiveness.

God’s Will is the only Will there is.

1. Today’s idea can be regarded as the central thought toward which all our exercises are directed.

²God’s Will is the only Will.

³When you have recognized this, you will have recognized that your will is His.

⁴The belief that conflict is possible will have disappeared.

⁵Peace will replace the strange idea that you are torn by conflicting goals. ^I

⁶As an expression of God’s Will, you have no goal but His. ^II

2. Today’s idea contains immense peace.

²And today’s exercises are directed toward finding it.

³The idea itself is wholly true.

⁴Therefore, it cannot give rise to illusions.

⁵Without illusions, conflict is impossible.

⁶Let us try today to recognize this, and so experience the peace this recognition brings.

3. Begin the longer practice periods by slowly repeating these thoughts several times, with firm determination to understand their meaning and hold them in your mind:

²God’s Will is the only Will there is.

³I cannot be in conflict.

⁴Then spend a few minutes adding some related thoughts, such as:

⁵I am at peace.

⁶Nothing can disturb me.

⁷My will is God’s Will.

⁸My will and God’s Will are one.

⁹God’s Will for His Son is peace.

¹⁰During this introductory phase, be sure to resolve any conflicting thoughts that may cross your mind. ^III

¹¹If any arise, say immediately:

¹²God’s Will is the only Will there is.

¹³These conflicting thoughts are meaningless.

4. If some specific conflict seems particularly difficult to resolve, bring it to mind briefly and very concretely.

²Name the people involved and the situation, and say silently to yourself:

³God’s Will is the only Will there is.

⁴And I share it with Him.

⁵My conflict about ___ cannot be real.

5. Once your mind has been cleared in this way, close your eyes and try to experience the peace your reality entitles you to. ^IV

²Sink into it, and feel it surrounding you.

³You may be tempted to confuse these attempts with withdrawal, but the difference is easily recognized.

⁴If you are succeeding, you will feel a deep sense of joy and heightened alertness, rather than a feeling of drowsiness and dullness. ^V

⁵Joy is what identifies peace.

⁶When you experience it, you will know you have found it.

6. If you find yourself slipping into withdrawal, repeat today’s idea immediately and try again.

²Do this as often as necessary.

³It is essential that you not give in to distraction, even if the peace you seek eludes you.

7. In the shorter practice periods, which you should undertake at regular and pre-determined intervals today, say to yourself:

²God’s Will is the only Will there is.

³And I seek His peace today.

⁴Then try to find the peace you are seeking.

⁵Spending one or two minutes every half hour doing this, preferably with eyes closed, will be an excellent use of time.

---

^I The conflict here lies between the goals you believe reflect the Will of God and those you believe satisfy your own desires—the ego’s desires in you. Both wills have the same objective: salvation. The Will of God is found in your awareness of your true Self—within you. The ego, however, insists that the bearers of your salvation are a series of idols that have nothing to do with you and that are outside you.

^II It is not that the Will of God is the same as yours and that you share it with Him; no, it is much more than that: you are the expression of the Will of God.
It is very likely that you will find today’s idea somewhat excessive, and certainly it is… for your ego. Remember one thing, and remember it well: everything you believe you think, you in fact think with your ego. And undoubtedly, this idea will strike you as unsettling—because it is. Why do you think, otherwise, that you had to learn in Lesson 10: “My thoughts do not mean anything”?

It is also quite possible that you accepted that idea to some extent at the time and repeated it to yourself with discipline, but there is no doubt that you have not yet fully embraced it. If you had, your mind would now be perfectly receptive to today’s idea, for the mind cannot remain blank. Your mind cannot reject the ego’s thoughts as unworthy and yet be reluctant to accept in their place the Thought of God. Your mind will, unfailingly, align itself with one thought system or the other, although it is also possible that for a time you may oscillate between them—which is quite uncomfortable and most common.

Do not worry about that, nor despair. Jesus knows very well the difficulty His proposal entails, as well as your reluctance to accept it. Why do you think He so often uses expressions such as “try…,” “seek…,” “endeavor…?” Because He knows that you have a very well-trained mind—in the ego’s thought system—and that changing it is no small task. The key to bringing about that change is to want it with all your heart.

But why would you want, with all your heart, to adopt a new way of thinking? That will occur only under two circumstances. The first—and most favorable—is that you see with absolute clarity that everything Jesus tells you is true, and that this stirs in your heart a great enthusiasm to embrace His teachings. This is the path of discernment, the easiest and fastest way, but it is a path that requires great lucidity and deep humility.

The other option is that you find yourself utterly desperate and profoundly disillusioned with the world’s promises. Your suffering will lead you to embrace, with the hope of the desperate, any alternative to the pain of the past—in which you are an expert—and this Course will find in you a good student, and you too will advance quickly.

The situation, however, becomes somewhat more complex when you do not find yourself clearly in either of those two conditions. This is because you lack the “helps” of either the call of certainty or the aversion to pain. You are a more or less “normal” person, with a more or less “normal” life, but with a certain inclination toward spiritual matters. In that case, prepare yourself to take certain measures in order to practice this Course effectively.

First of all, and before anything else, you will have to be very honest with yourself and decide whether or not you are willing to undertake the titanic task of changing your thought system, for you can be certain that what you are undertaking is a true feat.

If, despite that, you decide to go forward, you must focus your entire will on this purpose and, with firm determination, impose upon yourself a strict discipline that you will have to maintain for quite some time. One of the key aspects of this new discipline is to keep your eyes always wide open to see what is happening in your mind and how it relates to the world you perceive. Do not find this strange, for we are on a path that leads us to awakening, and awakened people have their eyes open, do they not?

It is also extraordinarily important that you open your eyes not only to watch your mind but also to observe the effects that the practice you are engaged in has upon your life. This is crucial, because, lacking the “helps” already mentioned, you must provide your own. These helps, which will prove precious to you, are your achievements. Your achievements will bring you certainty, strengthen your confidence, and quickly make your efforts cease to feel like effort, for is it an effort to do what brings you joy?

As time goes on, the path becomes easier. Your new way of interpreting reality becomes a habit and arises automatically in your mind. The temptation to follow your old guide grows weaker, for you have become more sensitive and intolerant to suffering. You do not want it for yourself or for anyone, and what now feels uncomfortable are your old habits of judgment.

You have tasted the sweetness of walking safely through an uncertain world, hand in hand with a powerful guide who resolves all conflicts for you; you need only place your trust—everything else follows naturally. And although life still gives you the occasional slap—there are so many lessons to learn!—you generally walk with a smile on your face.

Now no one needs to convince you that there is no will but God’s Will; now you know it.

^III Conflicted thinking appears when what you perceive contradicts your own expectations. The conflict arises when you interpret a situation or another person’s behavior as adverse. This disturbs you because it contradicts your interpretation of reality.

^IV Realize that your small egoic mind knows only how to manage beliefs. Your decision to want to be separate from God in order to “live” your own “life” has caused you to forget your true function: to create. Therefore, as long as you continue to embody that false identity, your only option is to believe.

Understand that your beliefs are not neutral. Although none of them are the absolute truth, some are aligned with the essence of your Being, for they reflect the Love, the Truth, and the Power from which you were created; others, on the contrary, reflect the opposite and induce in you fear, confusion, and weakness. Thus, as long as you believe yourself to be human, your only alternative is to choose between these two groups of apparent truths.

It is not a complicated choice. You need only be attentive to how they make you feel, for you will find with absolute certainty that they generate in you opposing emotional states, which will help you discern what is best for you.

^V Jesus warns you not to fall into a drowsy, lethargic, and enervated “peace.” This would turn meditation into “self-absorption,” a withdrawal from the conflicts of life into a sleepy false peace.

In contrast, the peace we seek—the peace characteristic of fruitful meditation—is distinguished by “deep joy and heightened alertness.”

It is my will that there be light.^I

1. Today we will look at the Will you share with God.

²This Will is not the same as the idle wishes of the ego, from which darkness and nothingness arise.

³The Will you share with God holds all the power of Creation.

⁴The idle wishes of the ego cannot be shared; therefore, they hold no power.

⁵They are not without effect, in the sense that they can produce a world of illusions in which you may believe blindly.

⁶But they are utterly useless to Creation,

⁷For they create nothing real.

2. Idle wishes and grievances work together to form the world you see. ^II

²The ego’s desires gave rise to it.

³And the ego’s need for grievances—essential to sustain it—fills this world with figures who seem to attack you, thus “justifying” your judgments.

⁴These figures become the “middlemen” the ego uses to traffic in grievances, which stand between your awareness and the reality of your brother. ^III

⁵In seeing them this way, you do not know your brothers, nor your Self.

3. In this strange bargain, you lose awareness of your Will, for guilt is traded back and forth, and grievances grow with every exchange. ^IV

²Could such a world have been created by the Will the Son of God shares with his Father?

³Could God have created disaster for His Son?

⁴Their Will together is Creation.

⁵Would God have created a world that seeks to destroy Himself?

4. Today we will once again attempt to reach the world that aligns with your true Will.

²In that world there is light, for it does not oppose the Will of God.

³It is not Heaven, but the light of Heaven shines upon it.

⁴It is a world where darkness has been dispelled and the ego’s idle wishes have withdrawn.

⁵And the light that shines there reflects your Will.

⁶That is why we must look for it in you.

5. The image you hold of the world can only reflect what is within you.

²The source of light or darkness is not outside you.

³Your grievances cloud your mind, and so you see a world of shadows.

⁴Forgiveness, however, clears the darkness, affirms your Will, and lets you see a world of light.

⁵We have said many times that it is easy to move past the barrier of grievances, for it cannot truly stand between you and your salvation. ^V

⁶The reason is very simple.

⁷Do you really want to be in hell?

⁸Do you really want to weep, to suffer, and to die?

6. Forget the ego’s arguments that try to convince you this is really Heaven.

²You know perfectly well it is not.

³You cannot want this for yourself.

⁴There is a point beyond which illusions cannot go.

⁵Suffering is not happiness, and what you really want is joy.

⁶That is truly your Will.

⁷And your Will is also salvation.

⁸You want to succeed in what we undertake today.

⁹So we begin with your blessing and your joyful agreement.

7. Today we will surely succeed if you remember that what you truly want is salvation.

²You will align your Will with God’s plan, for it is your own.

³There is nothing in your Will that truly opposes His, nor do you want there to be.

⁴Salvation is for you.

⁵Above all else, you want the freedom to remember who you really are.

⁶Today it is the ego that stands helpless before your Will.

⁷Your Will is free, and nothing can prevail against it. ^VI

8. Therefore, we undertake today’s exercises with gladness and confidence, certain that we will find what it is your Will to find, and remember what it is your Will to remember.

²No idle wish can stop us or mislead us with the illusion of its strength.

³Let your Will be done today. ^VII

⁴And bring to an end the foolish belief that you would choose hell over Heaven.

9. We begin the longer practice periods by recognizing that God’s plan for salvation, and His alone, is wholly in agreement with your Will.

²It is not the purpose of a foreign power forced upon you against your Will.

³You and your Father are in perfect accord in this goal.

⁴You will succeed today.

⁵Today is the appointed time for the liberation of the Son of God from hell and from all idle wishes.

⁶His Will has returned to his awareness.

⁷Today he is ready to behold the light in him and be saved. ^VIII

10. Once you have reminded yourself of this, and have resolved to keep your Will clearly in mind, say to yourself with gentle firmness and quiet certainty:

²It is my will that there be light.

³I want to behold the light that reflects God’s Will and mine.

⁴Then let your Will be reaffirmed, united with the Power of God and your Self.

⁵Let the rest of the practice be guided by Them, and join with Them who lead the way.

11. In the shorter practice periods, declare again what it is you truly want by saying: ^IX

²It is my will that there be light.

³Darkness is not my will.

⁴Repeat this several times each hour.

⁵But most importantly, apply today’s idea the moment you are tempted to hold any kind of grievance.

⁶This will help you let go of all grievances, instead of clinging to them and hiding them in the dark.

---

^I Genesis 1:3 “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”

^II This is similar to Freud’s observation in his celebrated work The Interpretation of Dreams, when he correctly identified fears and desires as the generators of the symbols we contemplate in our nightly dreams. Here, Jesus tells us the same thing, except that He applies it to the perception of the waking world. When we believe we awaken in the morning, we are in fact still dreaming, and the elements of the world we see with the body’s eyes are likewise symbols of our desires and resentments.

^III A middleman is someone who buys goods from a producer and sells them to consumers. In this case, the ego (the producer) makes use of attacking bodies (the intermediaries)—whose behavior demands a “just” judgment—to deliver to you (the consumer) resentments (the merchandise).

In other words, those who attack you are the means the ego employs to get you to acquire what it sells: the suffering and pain of your resentments.

^IV You blame them, and they blame you, in a process that increases the resentments between you.

^V  W-pI.69.5:2–5 “Resolve to go past these clouds. Reach out and touch them in your mind. Brush them aside with your hand, and as you pass through, feel them touching your cheeks, your forehead, and your eyelids. Go on; the clouds cannot stop you.”

W-pI.70.8:1–2 “Since all illusions of salvation have failed you, surely you do not want to remain in vain pursuit of idols in the clouds, when you could so easily reach the light of true salvation. Try to go past the clouds in whatever way appeals to you.”

^VI Matthew 16:18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

^VII Matthew 6:10 “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” In this case, instead of asking God that His Will be done, Jesus asks that ours be done: the Will to save ourselves.

^VIII Notice carefully here that the one who is saved is not the “you” you believe yourself to be, the one to whom you give a name and surname; it is the Son of God who is saved—that is, your true Self.

You do today’s Lesson, and the one who is saved is the Son of God in you. Do not be mistaken about that.

^IX Although throughout today’s Lesson there is much talk of light and also of resentments, the true protagonist of today’s practice is the will. The entire Lesson is designed first to make you aware of what it is you truly want, and then to have you place your will in achieving it. First you gain clarity, and then you go for it.

Jesus begins by showing you how miserably you waste your time embittering your life with absurd resentments toward brothers who, though they are Children of the same Father and seek in this life exactly what you do—to be happy—you have turned into your enemies, thereby thwarting every expectation of attaining the happiness you long for. For this reason, and above all, it is essential that you renounce your resentments so as to cease sabotaging your legitimate goal of reaching happiness.

It is very important that you realize that if you reproach your brothers for anything, it is because you have a poor opinion of yourself. You think they can effectively harm you because you see yourself as fragile and vulnerable, and you believe you can lose something from the only and paltry inheritance you recognize as yours: your body.

It is obvious that your body can suffer and be diminished, and it is also true that your opinions and values can be outraged; but has that ever truly had anything to do with what you really are? Has that ever affected you in any way? Throughout your personal life, your body, your ideas, and all external circumstances have constantly changed, and if that is indeed so, you can conclude that none of that can be related to your true identity.

However, there is something that has never changed one bit throughout all that time, for it has always remained exactly the same: your awareness of being yourself. That awareness of being, of existing, has remained forever unaltered, and it is the fine thread that unites your personal mind with your immortal soul. That consciousness of pure being, which is the source of all love and happiness, is invulnerable and eternal; it is the only vestige of reality in your egoic mind, the seat of your will and the dwelling place of the light. That is what is real. How could you harbor resentments if the only attacks you can suffer can affect only illusions?

Remember: “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists…”

The second part of today’s Lesson is the most important, for it is a true declaration of intent and the reaffirmation of your real will, which you have identified in the first part. Now you repeat to yourself constantly throughout the day what it is you truly want. This is a long process whose purpose is to crystallize your mind in a single direction in order to establish a new habit.

If your mind were virgin, that process would be quite simple and brief, but it is not. Your mind is conditioned by an insidious automatic mechanism: the world’s thought system that has governed your mind until now. If you become aware of how much time and effort you have devoted to “educating” yourself and imposing upon yourself that painful way of thinking, you will understand the difficulties you will encounter in changing it.

But that is not all. You must also become aware of something that makes the situation even more complicated: you gratify your anger and resentments with pleasure. The ego is a mental illness that perverts the mind, and one of its most perfidious devices is the inversion of your cognitive system to interpret your feelings and sensations. Thus, what harms you, you interpret as pleasurable, and feeling bad attracts you. Realize that you will have to resist that temptation.

You become angry, blame, and attack because you are drawn to it. Each time you do so, the ego gives you its poisonous reward. This may shock you, but it requires little honesty to acknowledge that it is so. Why else would you do it? But do not worry: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Well then, now you know the truth.

Be realistic. Become aware and accept that you stand at the beginning of a long process of undoing old patterns. This is a prerequisite for establishing within your mind the new thought system that will make you happy. Be patient and persevere. If you follow the path with faith, always walking in the same direction, the result is certain. Do not be discouraged. You will find many rewards along the way, and increasingly you will be accompanied first by confidence and then by the certainty that your life now has a true purpose and that you are finally fulfilling your function. Rejoice. In truth, all is good news. That, precisely, is the gospel.

Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.

1. Although we have recognized that the ego’s plan for salvation is the opposite of God’s, we have not yet emphasized that it is also a direct attack on His plan, and a deliberate attempt to destroy it.

²In this attack, God is given the attributes of the ego, while the ego is viewed as having the qualities of God. ^I

2. The ego’s fundamental wish is to replace God.

²In fact, the ego is the embodiment of that wish in physical form.

³For it is this wish that makes the mind appear to be enclosed within a body, kept isolated and alone, and unable to reach other minds except through the body that was made to imprison it. ^II

⁴To impose limits on communication cannot be the best means of extending it.

⁵Yet the ego would have you believe that it is.

3. While it is clear that this is an attempt to maintain the limitations the body must impose, it may not yet be as obvious why holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.

²But consider the kinds of things that lead you to hold grievances.

³Are they not always associated with something a body does?

⁴Someone says something you do not like, or does something that displeases you.

⁵In either case, it is always the body’s behavior that you see as proving the person’s guilt.

4. It is not what the person is that concerns you.

²Instead, you are preoccupied with what the person does with the body.

³In doing so, you not only fail to help that person escape the body’s limitations,

⁴you actively reinforce those limitations by identifying the person with the body. ^III

⁵This is an attack on God, for if His Son is only a body, then so must God be.

⁶And it is inconceivable that a Creator could be entirely unlike what He creates.

5. If God were a body, what would His plan for salvation be?

²What could it be but death?

³And in presenting Himself as the Author of Life and not of death, He would have to be a liar and a deceiver, full of empty promises—one who offers illusions in place of truth.

⁴The apparent reality of the body makes this view of God seem quite convincing.

⁵Indeed, if the body were real, it would be difficult to avoid drawing this conclusion.

⁶And every grievance you hold insists that the body is real.

⁷Your grievances cause you to overlook entirely what your brother is.

⁸They reinforce your belief that he is a body and condemn him for being one.

⁹They declare that his salvation must be death, and in doing so project this attack onto God, blaming Him for it.

6. To this carefully constructed nightmare—where angry beasts hunt their prey and mercy cannot enter—the ego comes as your savior.

²God made you a body.

³Very well, let us accept that and rejoice.

⁴Since you are a body, do not deprive yourself of anything the body can offer.

⁵Take what little you can get.

⁶God gave you nothing.

⁷The body is your only savior.

⁸It is the death of God and your salvation.

⁹This is the universal belief of the world you see.

7. Some hate the body and seek to harm and debase it.

²Others idolize it and try to glorify and exalt it.

³But as long as the body remains the center of your self-concept, you are attacking God’s plan for salvation and holding grievances against Him and His Creations, in order not to hear the Voice of Truth or welcome It as your Friend.

⁴The savior you have chosen has taken His place.

⁵That savior is your friend, and God your enemy.

8. Today we will try to end these senseless attacks on salvation. ^IV

²Instead, we will try to welcome it.

³Your upside-down perception has devastated your peace of mind.

⁴You have seen yourself within a body, and the truth outside you—blocked from your awareness by the body’s limitations.

⁵Now we will try to see this differently.

9. The light of truth is in us, where God placed it.

²The body is outside us and does not concern us.

³To be without a body is to be in our natural state.

⁴To recognize the light of truth in us is to recognize ourselves as we are.

⁵To see our Self as something apart from the body is to end the attack on God’s plan for salvation, and to accept it instead.

⁶And wherever His plan is accepted, it has already been accomplished.

10. Our goal in today’s longer practice periods is to become aware that God’s plan for salvation has already been fulfilled in us.

²To achieve this goal, we must replace attack with acceptance.

³As long as we continue to attack, we cannot understand what God’s plan for us is.

⁴Thus, we are attacking what we do not understand.

⁵Now we will try to lay judgment aside and ask what God’s plan is for us:

⁶What is salvation, Father?

⁷I do not know.

⁸Tell me, that I may understand.

⁹Then wait in silence for His answer.

11. We have attacked God’s plan for salvation without waiting to hear what it is.

²We have shouted our grievances so loudly that we have not listened to His Voice.

³We have used our grievances to blind our eyes and close our ears.

⁴Now we want to see, to hear, and to learn.

⁵What is salvation, Father?

⁶Ask, and you will be answered.

⁷Seek, and you will find. ^V

12. We no longer ask the ego what salvation is, or where to find it.

²We ask the Truth.

³Be confident, then, that the answer will be true—because of the One to Whom you have asked.

⁴Whenever your confidence falters, and your hope of success begins to dim and die, repeat the question and your request, remembering Whom you are asking: the infinite Creator of the infinite, Who created you like Himself:

⁵What is salvation, Father?

⁶I do not know.

⁷Tell me, that I may understand.

⁸He will answer you.

⁹You need only be willing to listen.

13. Today, one or perhaps two brief practice periods per hour will suffice, since they will be somewhat longer than usual.

²Each exercise period should begin like this:

³Holding grievances is an attack on God’s plan for salvation.

⁴Instead of attacking it, I will accept it.

⁵What is salvation, Father?

⁶Then wait quietly for about a minute, preferably with your eyes closed, and listen for His answer.

---

^I To the ego, embodied in a body, are assigned the aspects of being—the attributes of God: to create, to love, and to know. God manifests them in a perfectly abstract and unlimited way; He creates His Son as an extension of His Love and knows Him, for His Son is Himself.

Bodies “create” other bodies through what is called “making love,” and they “know” one another through the senses of their bodies. The ego is not creative but merely a clumsy counterfeit of Being—an inept imitation.

^II There is a fundamental, generic question that, at some point, crosses every human mind, consciously or not. While most people ignore it and forget it, for some it becomes a source of constant concern. The question is: What is all this about?

This question can be approached from many angles and can take more specific forms. It can be phrased in philosophical terms—What is reality?—in scientific terms—What is matter?—or in psychological terms—Who am I? In any case, such questioning reveals an unease, a restlessness that seeks to be appeased in some way, or else must be forgotten altogether.

Basically, there are two paradigms that address this question, and they are perfectly antithetical—each is a mirror image of the other; the statements of one are the inversion of those of the other. Thus, one says: “I am real, and the idea of God is a sublimation of my desires.” The other—the paradigm of this Course—states that God is the only reality, and the ego—symbolized in the body—is the embodiment of the idea of being God.

Both paradigms are perfectly consistent within themselves, yet they lead to different conclusions and experiences of being. It is also important to recognize that the mind cannot operate under both paradigms simultaneously, nor can it alternate between them, for doing so stresses and depresses it.

For the mind to function efficiently and achieve any kind of result, it must choose one of these two descriptions of what is real and adhere to it consistently.

This Lesson describes the world’s paradigm as seen from the perspective of the Course. Perhaps the most relevant point here is to become aware of the consequences of believing in the ego’s proposal for salvation. It must be understood that Jesus’ description of what the ego asserts is absolutely accurate, and it is something every human being knows perfectly well, for in one way or another, each has subscribed to it throughout personal life.

Jesus now offers a very different proposal, one that will obviously lead to a very different experience. He understands that His proposal cannot be lightly accepted as true; He merely asks that we give it a chance and verify its truth for ourselves.

^III To stop harboring resentments is an unavoidable requirement for transcending identification with the body. The practice of this teaching—forgiving our resentments—is essential to embrace the premise of Workbook Lesson 97: I am spirit.

^IV Jesus’ reasoning for demonstrating that harboring resentments is an attack on God’s plan for salvation exposes the unconscious mechanism that governs your mind, which is essentially as follows:

PREMISES:

• Your resentments are caused by the behavior of others toward you.

• Behavior belongs to bodies.

• Harboring resentments reinforces in your mind the idea that bodies are your only reality and that of others.

• If you are a body, your Creator must be one too. This idea is unconscious but fully operative in your mind.

• To be saved from something means to cease being that something; therefore, the body’s salvation is death.

• God lies; He says He creates life, yet the life He creates always ends in death.

• Your brother’s salvation and your own is death, for that is what that lying God has established.

• In this world of death, everyone kills to go on living, and everyone ends up dying.

• Your body is all you have—your only comfort and the place where you experience pleasure by satisfying your perceived needs.

CONCLUSION:

Identifying with your body and seeking your salvation in it sabotages God’s plan for salvation as this Course teaches it. Every time you harbor a resentment, you reinforce in your mind this bleak view of yourself and of everything.

^V This version of the Gospel quotation is repeated throughout the Course on many occasions. Jesus constantly urges you to pray sincerely and wholeheartedly, assuring you that all your desires will be fulfilled. This is not because, in some lofty realm or hypothetical Heaven, there exists a being who watches you, listens to your petitions, and then capriciously decides whether to grant them or not.

God has created His Son perfect, and so it shall remain forever. He is real and unchangeable.

The mechanism by which your prayers seem to manifest within the illusory dream of bodily life is, in truth, quite different. That illusory dream is of your own making—a projection of your fears and desires. It is the mind of the Son of God, confused because it believes itself to be a body in time and space. That mind, infinitely powerful, converses with itself through the characters with which it identifies in that illusory realm, for it has become fragmented by believing in the impossible idea of separation, which in itself is fragmenting.

Thus, it conceives a dream of sin and guilt, which, through forgiveness and prayer, it transforms into redemption and salvation.

The mind of the Son of God—which is the Mind of God—grants itself all that it asks for from the heart: the good and the bad, illusions as well as salvation. Such is its power to create, for such is its power to believe.

Matthew 7:7: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Only God’s plan for salvation will work.

1. You may not realize that the ego has devised a plan for salvation that is the opposite of God’s.

²This is the plan in which you believe.

³And because it is the opposite of God’s, you also believe that accepting God’s plan in place of the ego’s is to condemn yourself. ^I

⁴This may sound absurd, of course.

⁵But after looking at the ego’s plan, you may realize that, however absurd it seems, you do believe in it.

2. The ego’s plan for salvation centers around holding grievances.

²According to this plan, if someone else were to speak or act differently, if some external circumstance or event were to change, you would be saved.

³So the source of salvation is constantly perceived as outside of yourself.

⁴Every grievance you hold is a declaration, an assertion in which you believe, saying: “If this were different, I would be saved.”

⁵The mental shift that is necessary for salvation is thus demanded of everyone and everything—except yourself. ^II

3. The role your own mind plays in this plan, therefore, is simply to determine what must change—everything but itself—in order for you to be saved.

²According to this insane plan, anything that you perceive as the source of salvation is acceptable, as long as it does not work. ^III

³This guarantees that you will keep searching in vain, for the illusion is sustained that although this one has failed, there is still hope in other places and things.

⁴Perhaps another person will be better, or another situation more successful.

4. Such is the ego’s plan for your salvation.

²Surely you have recognized that this plan aligns perfectly with the ego’s central doctrine: “Seek but do not find.” ^IV

³For what better way to ensure you never find salvation than to direct all your efforts toward seeking it where it is not?

5. God’s plan for salvation, by contrast, does work—simply because, when you follow His guidance, you seek salvation where it truly is.

²But if you wish to succeed, as God has promised you will, you must be willing to seek it only there.

³Otherwise, your purpose will be divided, and you will try to follow two plans for salvation that are completely opposed in every way.

⁴The result can only be confusion, misery, and a deep sense of failure and despair.

6. How can you escape from all of this?

²Very easily.

³Today’s idea is the answer: Only God’s plan for salvation will work.

⁴There can be no real conflict about this, because there is no possible alternative to God’s plan that can save you.

⁵His is the only plan whose outcome is certain.

⁶His is the only plan that will succeed.

7. Let us practice today by recognizing this certainty.

²And let us rejoice that there is an answer to what seems to be an insoluble conflict.

³With God, all things are possible. ^V

⁴You will attain salvation through His plan, which cannot fail.

8. Begin the two longer practice periods by reflecting on today’s idea and recognizing that it contains two parts, both equally important.

²The first is that God’s plan for your salvation will succeed.

³The second is that all other plans will not.

⁴Do not let yourself become depressed or angry over the second part, for it is inherent in the first. ^VI

⁵And in the first lies your complete release from the insane attempts and mad schemes you made to free yourself.

⁶All of them brought you only misery and pain, but God’s plan will lead you to release and joy.

9. With this in mind, devote the remainder of the longer practice period to asking God to reveal His plan to you.

²Ask Him very specifically:

³What would You have me do?

⁴Where would You have me go?

⁵What would You have me say, and to whom?

⁶Let Him take charge of the rest of the practice session, and let Him tell you what your part is in His plan for your salvation.

⁷He will answer, to the extent that you are willing to hear His Voice.

⁸Do not refuse to listen.

⁹The mere fact that you are doing these exercises proves that you have some willingness to hear.

¹⁰This is enough to claim your right to God’s answer.

10. In the shorter practice periods, repeat frequently that only God’s plan for salvation will work.

²Be alert to any temptation to hold grievances, and respond to such impulses with this variation of today’s idea:

³Holding grievances is the opposite of God’s plan for salvation.

⁴And only His plan will succeed.

⁵Try to remember today’s idea six or seven times an hour.

⁶There is no better way to spend half a minute—or less—than to remember the Source of your salvation, and to see it where it truly is.

---

^I Here, Jesus uses the terms “salvation” and “condemnation” from the ego’s perspective. For the ego, to “be saved” means to get its own way and obtain what it desires, while to “be condemned” means the frustration of its expectations. For example, accepting God’s plan for salvation in the face of a perceived offense leads to forgiveness, but this frustrates the ego’s expectations, for it seeks vengeance. Thus, the ego interprets forgiveness as condemnation.

Simply put, the ego urges you to seek salvation outside yourself—where it is not—for outside you there is nothing but illusions. True salvation, in this world (for in Reality it is not needed), consists in the opposite: to look within and recognize that you remain as your Father created you. It is understandable, then, that the ego interprets this inward journey as condemnation. And, in a sense, it is not wrong, for it marks its own condemnation—though not yours.

You may often think that accepting God’s plan for your salvation means giving up the search for it in the things the world offers—and in that, you are right. You cannot serve two masters at once. But this leads you to believe that following God’s plan condemns you to the permanent frustration of your deepest desires, which until now you have tried to appease, more or less successfully, with trivialities. In this, however, you are completely mistaken.

The truth is that you have never consistently accepted and followed God’s plan; you have always kept one eye on the ego’s gifts. This lack of consistency and determination has divided your mind and created an entirely avoidable tension. It is absolutely impossible for you to feel any sense of lack or need of any kind if you embrace God’s plan with all your heart. And here lies the key: to do it with all your heart and with all your mind.

Unity of purpose means focusing the mind in only one direction. This causes the mind to devote all its energy to achieving a single goal; in doing so, it forgets everything else, which then disappears for it—it no longer considers it, takes no account of it, and it simply fades from awareness because it has ceased to matter. The mind has become devoted to a single love, and thus, how could it possibly miss anything?

^II The ego is a mental illness. It is the condition of a mind so immersed in arrogance that it cannot even conceive of the possibility that its assumptions might be wrong. For this reason, it is an extraordinarily stable condition. It is not that the ego thinks it is right; rather, it is the condition of the mind that believes itself to be right—that the last foolish notion it has conceived is perfectly appropriate. When the egoic mind faces adversity, it always thinks that life is wrong; it never considers that its expectations might be misplaced.

The ego is the epicenter of a thought system that manages perception in relation to itself. It is the center of the universe it perceives. The attributes it assigns to its perceptions are the coordinates of a frame of reference that originates within itself. Thus, it interprets everything it perceives according to how that thing relates to it, in either positive or negative terms. When the ego looks at anything, it always evaluates whether what it perceives will bring it something or take something away. It is perfectly utilitarian, manipulative, predatory, and cowardly.

The ego experiences a permanent inner void and lunges voraciously toward what it perceives as an external space in order to fill its appetites, preying mercilessly upon its surroundings. It is restrained only by the fear that its cravings will be seen as excessive and thereby make it harder to achieve the goals of its peculiar sense of salvation. The only direction in which its code of behavior leads is to negotiate an arrangement that will allow it to gain as much as possible in every relationship.

Thus, the ego is incapable of true altruism, for that concept is antithetical to its very essence. It is enough to recall that altruism comes from alter, “the other” in Latin, which is the opposite of ego, “I.” Egoism and altruism are perfect opposites. That is why the ego will always demand change in others, never in itself; that is the principle that sustains its stability and permanence. This makes the ego unwilling to learn anything, for to learn is to change, and the only change it understands and accepts is that which can magnify its own self-image.

^III This is an idea repeated frequently throughout this Course, and one that is difficult to grasp or accept, for it is incomprehensible—and indeed it is to any rational mind. Yet it must be understood that the ego uses rationality only for its own benefit and only when it serves its purposes, for its nature is intrinsically irrational.

The “reason” the ego abhors true salvation—which would perfectly fulfill every longing—is precisely its aversion to change. The ego, in truth, does not want to stop seeking. It will proclaim to the heavens, with loud cries and tears, that it is desperately seeking the love that will fill its heart and the peace that will bring rest to its mind—and that is perfectly true. However, remember that the Will of the Son of God is always fulfilled, even that of his sick mind, and it is always fulfilled in the present.

The key to understanding this madness lies precisely there: it is always fulfilled in the present. The ego’s will is to seek salvation, and that is exactly what it attains—the search for salvation. If the ego—this black hole, the symbol of absence, lack, and nothingness—were to find salvation, it would simply disappear, and that terrifies the ego; it terrifies the “I”; it terrifies you who so long to seek salvation. But do you truly wish to find it? For if you did, and desired it with all your heart, it would surely be yours. And when? Now—this very instant. When else could it be?

^IV Matthew 7:7: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

T-12.VI.1:4: “Its dictates, therefore, can be summed up simply as: ‘Seek and do not find.’”

^V Matthew 19:26: “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, ‘With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.’”

^VI If this happens to you—if you feel a twinge of unease when you think that the things of the world might offer some kind of “salvation”—it is because there are still things that delight you, that is, there is still something that creates illusion for you. Do not worry, do not become anxious, and certainly do not feel guilty about it.

This Course is not meant to make you feel bad about anything—quite the opposite! Forgive your illusions, forgive yourself for harboring them in your heart, and forgive yourself for feeling guilty for having them. Forgive everything and move on. You are on the right path. You are doing the best you can, and above all, be absolutely certain that Jesus goes with you.

And even if you do not pay Him much attention, do not be concerned; His patience is perfect, and He will not allow you to stray too far. After all, you have already come too far for that.

Remember what Jesus tells us in the Psychotherapy supplement: “Setbacks are temporary. From a broader perspective, progress is always being made toward truth.” (P-3.II.1:8–9)

Salvation comes from me.

1. Every temptation is nothing more than some form of the basic temptation not to believe today’s idea.

²Salvation seems to come from anywhere except yourself.

³The same is true of the source of guilt.

⁴In truth, you see both guilt and salvation only in your own mind, and nowhere else.

⁵When you realize that all the guilt you perceive is merely a product of your own mind, you will also understand that guilt and salvation must be found in the same place.

⁶And when you understand this, you will be saved. ^I

2. The apparent “cost” of accepting today’s idea is this: it means that nothing outside of you can save you, and nothing outside of you can bring you peace.

²But it also means that nothing outside of you can hurt you, disturb your peace, or upset you in any way.

³Today’s idea puts you in charge of the universe, and places you where you belong as the Son of God. ^II

3. This is not a role that can be accepted partially, and by now you will likely have begun to see that accepting it is salvation.

²But it may still not be clear to you why recognizing that guilt is in your own mind also entails the understanding that salvation is there as well.

³God would not have placed the remedy for sickness where it could be of no use.

⁴That may be how your mind has worked, but it is not how His works.

⁵He wants you healed, and so He has kept the Source of healing where the need for healing lies.

⁶You have tried to do just the opposite, doing everything you could—no matter how twisted or absurd—to separate healing from the sickness to which it was meant to apply, in order to keep the sickness.

⁷Your goal was to prevent healing; God’s goal was to ensure it.

4. Today we will practice recognizing that the Will of God and our own are truly the same in this.

²God wants us to be healed, and we do not really want to remain sick, for sickness makes us unhappy.

³Therefore, by accepting today’s idea, we are aligning ourselves with God.

⁴He does not want us to be sick.

⁵We do not want that either.

⁶He wants us to be healed.

⁷So do we.

5. Today we are ready to do two longer practice periods, each lasting ten to fifteen minutes.

²But you may choose for yourself when to do them.

³We will follow this pattern for several lessons, and once again you are encouraged to decide in advance the best time for each session, and to follow your own schedule as closely as possible.

6. Begin these practice periods by repeating today’s idea, and then adding a statement expressing your recognition that salvation does not come from anything outside you.

²You might say something like this:

³Salvation comes from me.

⁴It cannot come from anywhere else.

⁵Then spend a few minutes, with your eyes closed, reviewing some of the external things in which you have sought salvation in the past—people, possessions, various situations and events, and self-images you tried to make real. ^III

⁶Acknowledge that salvation was never found in any of these.

⁷Then say to yourself:

⁸My salvation cannot come from any of these things.

⁹My salvation comes from me, and only from me.

7. Now we will once again try to reach the light in you, where your salvation truly is.

²You cannot find it in the clouds that surround the light, and you must realize that you have been searching for it in those clouds.

³Your salvation is not there.

⁴It lies beyond the clouds, in the light that shines behind them.

⁵Remember, you must pass through the clouds before you can reach the light.

⁶But also remember that you have never found anything lasting or desirable in the cloud formations you imagined. ^IV

8. Since all illusions of salvation have failed you, surely you do not want to keep searching for meaningless idols in the clouds, when you could so easily reach the light of true salvation.

²Try to pass through the clouds by whatever means appeals to you.

³If it helps, think of me as taking your hand and guiding you.

⁴And I assure you, this will not be a mere illusion. ^V

9. During the shorter and more frequent practice periods today, remind yourself that salvation comes from you, and that nothing but your own thoughts can hinder your progress.

²You are free from all external interference.

³You are in charge of your salvation.

⁴You are in charge of the salvation of the world.

⁵Then say:

⁶Salvation comes from me.

⁷Nothing outside of me can hold me back.

⁸Within me is the salvation of the world and of my own.

---

^I All the ideas in this Workbook are important, but no words can do justice to the importance of today’s Lesson.

Your entire world is in your mind, because nothing exists outside it. Everything that seems to exist in that world is there because you have placed it there, for no will operates in your mind but your own. Nothing external can affect you, because nothing is external to you. If you now believe this is not true—that you are a body doomed to die, living a brief life marked by limitation and helplessness—it is because you have also placed that idea in your mind. That is precisely your ego—that way of thinking. Your ego is not someone who believes this; your ego is the belief that this is so.

Your life, at its core, is nothing but a story you tell yourself. When someone asks you, “How are you?” and you answer, “I’m very happy!” or “I’m miserable,” you are merely expressing an opinion. Your condition of being happy or unhappy is something you yourself establish, and it will depend on the standard of evaluation you have chosen at that moment. Yet you will insist again and again that this condition is an “objective” fact—but could there be anything more subjective?

The first line of this Lesson is crucial. The basic temptation is to think that you are not responsible for your life and therefore to blame something external. When you feel tempted by something you find morally objectionable, realize that the moral standard that condemns it is one you have created, the desire to uphold it is also yours, and—though it may be hard to accept—the perception of that event is likewise of your own making. You simply take no responsibility for the contents of your consciousness and call “temptation” the relationship between something you label as “external” and impulses you claim come from a dark “subconscious.” Of course, that is one way of telling the story—but it is merely the way you have chosen.

To think of yourself as a helpless being subject to the whims of life is a choice. Jesus now invites you to consider another, entirely opposite one. This Course presents the dilemma very clearly. You now know you can choose between two very different ways of seeing yourself. The first, which you know all too well, is that proposed by the ego and the world. The other is what Jesus or the Holy Spirit offers you. Each will lead you along very different paths through the dream, toward vastly different goals. The ego’s proposal leads you in agony toward death; Jesus urges you to choose better and to recognize your power to shape your reality. That power is absolute because it is the Power of God within you—His Gift. Use it well and do not waste it on dreams of fear.

The entire strategy of the ego in your mind is based on convincing you that you are not responsible for your mental states, making you believe that the cause of your suffering lies in something external, when in truth you are the one who has placed it there. Its aim is to diminish you, to weaken you, and to plunge you into helplessness by projecting its own fragility onto you.

^II You are the Son of God, created perfect by your loving Father—free and capable of creating as He creates. In your freedom, you can extend Love infinitely, for that is your very condition. You can do this, and indeed you do, in eternity, for that is your will, identical to your Father’s. But you cannot create the impossible, because the impossible does not exist.

Nevertheless, if that is your desire, you can also “create” the impossible—but in that case such “creation” is not real; it is real only to you, and you then call it “belief.” You can believe in the illusions you yourself have made, and thus you conceive them as absences expressing your longing to regain your true condition. That is why the illusions you seem to perceive on the imaginary screen of your consciousness are inversions of the values you already enjoy in Heaven.

^III These “self-conceptions” are roles you have deemed desirable—being a good mother, an excellent professional, a loyal friend, more intelligent, wealthier, more compassionate, or any other appealing idea you may hold of yourself. It has always been your ego that desired all those things. You, as the Son of God, are infinitely beyond any possibility of “improvement.” Remember—you were created perfect. Your salvation lies precisely in remembering that.

^IV While the clouds of yesterday’s Lesson were composed of your resentments, today’s clouds consist of “…the things outside you in which you have sought salvation in the past” (6:5).

^V Believe Jesus in this. It is impossible that He could be deceiving you. He is here to guide you—that is His function. If you wish, you may travel the path thinking you walk alone, but you do not. Jesus accompanies you at every moment. He speaks to you, counsels you, and comforts you without ceasing. If you do not hear Him, it is because you are not paying attention, and deep down you still trust more in your own judgment. The journey would be far easier if you became aware that Jesus walks beside you.

He is not some imaginary friend nor the voice of a deranged mind. He is your elder brother who loves you, walks with you, and guides you toward your happiness—which is also His. Try it. Give Him a chance to be included in your awareness. He will not disappoint you. It is the best way you can use your mind.

Do not regard forming a personal relationship with Jesus as something strange or different from establishing any other relationship; it is exactly the same—a matter of will, trust, and purpose. And be sensible: use that relationship for its own purpose, not yours. In truth, they are the same—but you are not yet fully convinced of it, for you are still almost blind.

My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

1. No one can see what your grievances conceal. ^I

²Because your grievances are hiding the light of the world in you, your brother dwells in darkness, and so do you beside him.

³Yet when the veil of your grievances is lifted, you are freed along with him.

⁴Now share your salvation with him who stood beside you when you were in hell.

⁵He is your brother in the light of the world that saves you both. ^II

2. Today we will make another genuine attempt to reach the light within you. ^III

²Before we undertake this in our longer practice period, let us spend a few minutes reflecting on what it is we are trying to do.

³We are literally trying to reach the salvation of the world.

⁴We are attempting to see beyond the veil of darkness that hides it.

⁵We are trying to let the veil be lifted, and see the tears of the Son of God vanish in the sunlight.

3. Let us begin our longer practice period today fully aware that this is so, and with firm determination, let us try to reach what is more valuable to us than anything else.

²Salvation is our only need.

³There is no other purpose in this world, and no other function to fulfill.

⁴Learning salvation is our only goal.

⁵Let us bring the ancient search to an end today, by discovering the light in us and showing it, so that all who seek along with us may see it and rejoice.^IV

4. Now, very quietly and with eyes closed, try to release everything that usually occupies your awareness.

²Picture your mind as a vast sphere wrapped in a layer of thick, dark clouds.

³You can only see the clouds, because you seem to stand outside the sphere and at some distance from it.

⁴From where you are, there is no reason to believe a brilliant light lies hidden behind the clouds.

⁵The clouds appear to be the only reality.

⁶They seem to be all there is.

⁷This is why you do not try to go through them and beyond them, which is the only way you could truly realize their insubstantial nature.

⁸That is what we will try to do today. ^V

5. After reflecting on how important what you are trying to do is—for yourself and for the world—remain in perfect stillness, remembering only how much you want to reach the light in you today, right now.

²Resolve to go beyond those clouds.

³In your mind, reach out and touch them.

⁴Then brush them aside with your hand, and feel them lightly as they pass across your cheeks, your forehead, and your closed eyelids as you go through them.

⁵Keep moving; the clouds cannot stop you.

6. If you are doing the exercises correctly, you will begin to have a sense of being lifted up and carried forward.

²That tiny effort, and your small determination, call on the power of the universe to help you, and God Himself will lift you from darkness into light.

³You are acting in perfect accord with His Will.

⁴You cannot fail, because your will is His.

7. Trust your Father today, and be certain He has heard you and has answered you.

²You may not yet recognize His answer, but you can be sure it has been given, and that you will receive it.

³Try to hold this confidence in your mind as you attempt to pass through the clouds and reach the light.

⁴Try to remember that at last you are joining your will to the Will of God.

⁵Keep clearly in mind the thought that anything you undertake with God must succeed.

⁶Then allow the Power of God to work in you and through you, so that His Will and yours may be done. ^VI

8. In the shorter practice periods, which you will want to do as often as possible given the importance of today’s idea for you and your happiness, remember that your grievances are hiding the light of the world from your awareness. ^VII

²Remind yourself also that you are not searching alone, and that you know where to look.

³Then say:

⁴My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

⁵I cannot see what I have hidden.

⁶Yet for my salvation,

and the salvation of the world,

I want it to be revealed to me.

⁷And if you are tempted today to hold a grievance against anyone, be sure to tell yourself silently:

⁸If I hold this grievance, I will not be able to see the light of the world.

---

^I It is possible that this statement may not make much sense to you, because you may not yet understand how your resentments could conceal anything. You usually think they simply reflect the anger you feel for some grievance. But here Jesus is speaking of realities, not appearances. Remember: only love is real. Anger—or fear—is nothing but the absence of love, and what is absent has no real existence.

The ego will never understand this, for it deals only with absences—with what is not there. That is why this Course is so difficult for it: it speaks a language it cannot comprehend. You, however—Son of God—can understand it. Though the principles of this Course may seem inspiring to you, they can also appear incomprehensible or even unacceptable. Yet such judgments do not come from your true mind, but from the part of your holy mind still under the ego’s domain. And it is precisely that part this Course seeks to heal and reclaim.

A resentful mind cannot express love—the light of the world within you—because it is trapped in the idea of having been attacked or wronged in the past. But all of that is only an illusion, the result of a mistaken self-perception based on the smallness and vulnerability with which the ego deceives you. The foundations of those judgments are false, but if you believe in them, you will make them real for yourself.

Fortunately, you can always turn to your heart as your guide. If you feel bad, it is because what you are thinking is not true, and your resentments are unjustified. If you persist in deceiving yourself and continue to cause yourself moral suffering, it is because your ego has learned to interpret that pain as pleasure. Remember: the ego sees everything upside down. That is how confused and insane it is.

^II Remember what you learned in Lesson 19: “I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts.” Your resentments affect not only you; they also cast a shadow upon others, perpetuating the illusion of separation.

The opposite is equally true. To verify this, practice the following technique:

1) Block the judgment you are directing against your brother.

2) Invoke the idea of peace in your mind.

3) Look for that peace in your brother, the same peace you are claiming for yourself.

4) Look carefully and you will see it. It is there because you have placed it there.

5) Celebrate the peace you have found in your brother and thank him silently.

This technique, if done wholeheartedly, always works, because your will always fulfills itself. If you do it well, the entire process takes only a few seconds. If it takes you longer, ask yourself what it is you truly want to give yourself.

^III W-41.4:3: “Today we will make our first real attempt to go beyond this heavy cloud of darkness, and to pass through it into the light beyond.” After this first guided meditation exercise in Lesson 41, similar practices follow in Lessons 44, 45, 47, and 49.

^IV In fact, the exercise you are about to do is a kind of prayer: you are going to ask to see the light of the world within you—the love that you are. That is why Jesus now urges you to do it wholeheartedly, for that is the only way prayers succeed. Remember that whatever you ask in prayer is always granted, and that is so not because someone up above is watching you and deciding whether to give you something or not; in truth, everything is granted by you, to yourself.

If you do not grant yourself something, it is because you do not truly want it. Be very honest about this and see that it is so. If you ask for things you do not truly want, you are simply exhausting yourself—you are asking for despair, and that is what you will receive. Again, be honest: if realizing your true identity is not more valuable to you than anything else you think you perceive in the world, you are not ready for this. But do not worry or blame yourself for that; you are simply asking for more time, and that is what you will receive. Remember that life is perfect, and your will is always done.

^V Here Jesus suggests that you visualize your mind as a planet completely covered by dense clouds, floating above you. He also tells you that although you cannot see it, beyond the clouds you perceive from outer space there is on that planet—your mind—a bright light: the light of the world. That light is more truly your own identity than anything else you could think about yourself.

The only planet in the solar system that fits that description—a planet covered with dense clouds—is Venus. And, fittingly, Venus is known as “the morning star,” for it appears shining above the horizon at the dawn of a new day.

^VI Matthew 6:10: “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Here Jesus tells us that “… His Will and yours be done,” for your will perfectly coincides with the Will of God. The perceived world, too, is the result of a will, as it could not be otherwise—for even within the realm of illusion there can be no effects without a cause. The difference is that the will manifested there is the will of the ego.

^VII These brief practices will be of great help to you, and they are profoundly healing—especially those you do in response to specific flashes of anger that arise throughout the day. All of this is part of the mental training that is purifying your mind and that will eventually enable you to work miracles.

Changing your mental habits and acquiring new ones usually involves a long process that requires multiple repetitions, until the new habits become automatic and the new way of perceiving is the first thing that comes to mind when something contradicts your expectations. Be patient and persevere.

Love holds no grievances.^I

1. You, who were created by Love in Its Own likeness, cannot hold grievances and know your Self.

²To hold a grievance is to forget who you are. ^II

³To hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body.

⁴It is the decision to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the body to death.

⁵You may not yet realize what holding grievances does to your mind.

⁶It seems to separate you from your Source and makes you different from Him.

⁷It leads you to believe that God is like what you think you have become, for no one can conceive of his Creator as different from himself.

2. Disconnected from your own Self, which remains aware of its likeness to its Creator, your Self seems to sleep, while the part of your mind that weaves illusions in its dreaming appears to be awake.

²Can all of this arise simply from holding grievances?

³Indeed it can.

⁴For one who holds grievances denies that he was created by Love, and in his dream of hate, his Creator becomes fearful to him.

⁵Who can dream of hate and not be afraid of God?

3. It is as certain that those who hold grievances will redefine God in their own image as it is that God created them like Himself and defined them as part of Him. ^III

²It is just as sure that those who hold grievances will feel guilty as it is that those who forgive will find peace.

³And it is equally certain that those who hold grievances will forget who they are, just as those who forgive will remember.

4. Would you not be willing to let your grievances go if you believed all of this to be true?

²Perhaps you think you cannot give up all your grievances.

³Yet that is simply a matter of motivation. ^IV

⁴Today we will try to discover how you would feel without them.

⁵If you succeed, even just a little, you will never again find motivation lacking.

5. Begin the longer practice period today by searching your mind for those against whom you hold strong grievances.

²Some will be easy to identify.

³Then think of the seemingly minor grievances you hold against those you like and even those you think you love.

⁴Very soon, you will see that there is no one against whom you do not hold some form of grievance.

⁵This is what has made you see yourself as alone in all the universe.

6. Now resolve to see all these people as friends.

²Say to them all together—thinking of each one individually as you do:

³I would see you as my friend, that I may remember you are part of me, and come to know myself.

⁴Spend the rest of the practice period trying to picture yourself at peace with everyone and everything, safe in a world that protects you, loves you, and that you love in return.

⁵Try to feel safety surrounding you, enfolding you, and holding you up.

⁶Try to believe, even for a moment, that nothing can harm you in any way.

⁷At the end of the session, say to yourself:

⁸Love holds no grievances.

⁹When I let all my grievances go, I will know I am perfectly safe.

7. The shorter practice periods should include a quick application of today’s idea in the following form, and also whenever any kind of grievance arises against anyone, whether physically present or not:

²Love holds no grievances.

³Let me not betray my Self.

⁴Also, repeat the idea several times each hour in this form:

⁵Love holds no grievances.

⁶I want to know my Self. Therefore, I will let all grievances go, so that He may awaken in my awareness.

---

^I Today’s Lesson is the counterpart to the previous one, in which we explored our holiness and what we are naturally meant to feel. Today’s, by contrast, confronts us with the opposite: the apparent vulnerability of the character with whom we have mistakenly identified. While the previous Lesson invited us to celebrate by affirming our true Self, today’s teaches us to discern and reject the voice of the ego in our mind.

^II Today’s Lesson revolves around resentments, so it is important to understand clearly what this concept means.

From an etymological point of view, the term resentment means “that which makes me feel again”—that is, it is the remembrance of something that occurred in the past, reappearing in consciousness. A resentment is the persistent feeling of displeasure or anger toward someone or something believed to be the cause of an offense or harm; it is the emotion felt in the present in response to the memory of a perceived attack from the past.

The crucial question to ask is: who or what suffered that attack? For resentment is only possible if that which suffered the perceived attack can in fact be diminished. In truth, a resentment implicitly involves a recognition and definition of oneself as fragile and vulnerable—and that is precisely the idea the ego holds of you. Whenever you harbor resentment, you are affirming that you subscribe to the ego’s concept of yourself and that you are willing to defend it, even if that means losing your peace of mind, suffering, and falling into conflict with your brothers and with the world.

It is essential that you realize something: thinking that you are vulnerable and can suffer from others’ attacks is not a fact—it is an opinion. If holding that opinion carries such serious consequences, and you must pay such a high price for it, it is crucial that you first have absolute certainty that it is true, for otherwise you are paying with your happiness for something that is only an illusion.

Notice how unjust you are in your assessments. You subject the premises of this Course to fierce scrutiny, and your mind carefully analyzes every possibility that you are being deceived by a false proposition—which is perfectly understandable. Yet you accept, with astonishing naïveté and without the slightest caution, the first foolish notion the ego places in your mind. That, in itself, is disastrous recklessness. But given that it is evident the ego has deceived you completely in the past, offering you falsehoods and poisoning your life with its lies, the fact that you still listen to it is the greatest of follies. Don’t you see it?

At the beginning of this Workbook you were told that you do not have to believe the ideas presented here, nor even accept them gladly; you only have to practice what is proposed and see impartially whether they are true or not (W-In.6–7). Read this Lesson attentively and realize that harboring resentments serves no purpose but to sicken your mind, separate you from your brothers, and deprive you of the happiness you deserve. And if, seeing all this clearly, you still find it hard to let go of your resentments, understand that this is because, in truth, you hate yourself and wish to punish yourself, using your brothers and the world as instruments to do so. The Text explains well the reason for this delusion. Do not worry—it will pass. The best thing you can do now is to practice today’s Lesson wholeheartedly.

^III Genesis 1:26: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.’”

Resentment not only separates you from your brothers but also from yourself. Each time you harbor a resentment, you are reinforcing the illusion that you are a separate, vulnerable, and limited being. This illusion not only causes suffering but also prevents you from remembering your true identity as the Son of God, created in the image and likeness of Love.

Today’s practice invites you to release these resentments and to see everyone as friends. In doing so, you are not only healing your relationships but also healing your mind. Each time you choose to forgive, you are remembering that there is no separation between you and your brothers, and that all of you are part of the same unity in God.

Remember that forgiveness is not an act of condescension toward others but a gift you give yourself. In forgiving, you free yourself from the chains of the past and open your heart to the peace and happiness that are your natural inheritance.

^IV You may find it difficult to understand, accept, and assume that all the suffering you experience is voluntary—that is, that you have freely given it to yourself because you believe you deserve it. Yet that is the painful “truth” of this world of illusions.

The good news is that, since you are the only one responsible for your mental states, in the same way and with the same ease with which you have given yourself that which harms and causes you suffering, you can also forgive it and free yourself from it in an instant. It all comes down to motivation, to an act of will.

Jesus poses to us a fundamental question: “My brother, what do you want?” and constantly reminds us: “My brother, join your will with Mine and desire what I desire.”

Love created me like Itself.

1. Today’s idea is a complete and accurate statement of what you are.

²That is why you are the light of the world.

³That is why God has appointed you the savior of the world.

⁴That is why the Son of God depends on you for his salvation.

⁵He is saved because of what you are.

⁶Today we will strive to reach this truth about you, and to recognize fully—even if only for an instant—that it is indeed true.

2. In the longer practice session, we will reflect on your reality, and on its completely unaltered and unalterable nature. ^I

²We will begin by repeating this truth about you, and then spend a few minutes adding some related thoughts, such as:

³Holiness created me holy.

⁴Kindness created me kind.

⁵Service created me helpful.

⁶Perfection created me perfect.

⁷Any attribute that aligns with God’s definition of Himself is appropriate to you.

⁸Today we are attempting to undo your definition of God and replace it with His Own.

⁹We are also emphasizing that you are included in His definition of Himself.

3. After reviewing several related thoughts, try to let all of them fall away for a moment, and attempt to go beyond every concept and image you have ever held of yourself, to reach the truth within you. ^II

²If Love created you like Its Own Being, then that Being must be within you.

³And that Being is somewhere in your mind, waiting to be found. ^III

4. You may need to repeat today’s idea from time to time to replace distracting thoughts.

²It may also be necessary to continue adding more attributes that reflect the truth about you.

³But perhaps you will succeed in going beyond all of this, and in a moment when your mind is empty of thought, you will become aware of a radiant light in which you recognize yourself as Love created you.

⁴Trust that you are doing much today to bring that awareness nearer, whether you feel you succeeded or not. ^IV

5. It will be especially helpful today to practice the idea as often as possible.

²You need to hear the truth about yourself as frequently as you can, because your mind is deeply absorbed in false images of yourself.

³It would be very beneficial to repeat to yourself four or five times an hour—perhaps even more often—that “Love created me like Itself”.

⁴Understand that this is where the truth about you truly lies.

6. In the shorter practice periods, try to realize that it is not your small and solitary voice that speaks these words.

²It is the Voice of God, reminding you of your Father and your Self.

³It is the Voice of Truth, replacing everything the ego tells you about yourself with the simple truth about the Son of God.

⁴Love created you like Itself.

---

^I Today’s Lesson employs the technique of evocation, which consists of invoking an idea and focusing the mind upon it.

In the Glossary, the mind is described as the “active principle or agent of spirit,” that is, the potential of spirit to manifest ideas. Put simply, we could say that the mind is an “instrument” that generates reality, operating by becoming that which it evokes through invocation. The mind “produces” reality through will, and it does so by itself and for itself, for nothing else exists.

This Lesson invites you to evoke an idea that reflects various attributes of God, since these coincide perfectly with those of your Self, because your Father created you in His image and likeness. This process allows your individual mind to become familiar with the qualities of your true Self, facilitating remembrance of Him and, ultimately, the direct experience of Him.

^II In the first part of the exercise, we have defined ourselves through qualities that reflect the reality of God and of our true Self. To do so, we may recall memories or imagine situations in which we see ourselves manifesting those exalted qualities, allowing ourselves to visualize our holiness as we help others, or in whatever form may arise in our minds.

Now, in the second part of the exercise, we set aside those concrete images that have enabled us to experience beneficial emotional states and turn our attention, not to the effects of holiness, but to its Source: your Self.

The purpose of this mental exercise is to recognize that those sublime qualities do not originate from your personal mind, but from your true essence. In other words, you are using the “acts” of kindness performed by your character as a bridge to connect with the origin of all goodness.

^III It is impossible to express in words the crucial importance of the experience described in these lines, which has been mentioned in passing before. This entire Course, all its teachings and practices, have but one purpose—to lead to this experience. Once you have reached it, you will no longer need to study this Course at all, nor to submit to any rule of behavior. Your time in this world will be almost over. You will have seen what you truly are; you will know God. This is the ultimate mystical experience; the ego will no longer even be a memory. You will now know with certainty—you will know—that you are not a human being, that you never were; you are the Love of God.

As stated in G-1.2:5–6: “A universal theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible, it is necessary. The goal of this Course is to attain this experience.”

This experience is not something you can attain through mental effort or accumulation of knowledge. It is a gift granted when your mind is quiet and open enough to receive the truth. It is not a personal achievement, but a surrender to what has always been true.

^IV Do not worry if you do not succeed today. You have all the time in the world—literally. The only meaning of all the countless “lives,” of all consciousness, is to reach this. It is the end of dreams, of time, of space, and of all experience. It is the end of perception and the return to knowledge. It is the return Home.

Remember that this process is not linear, nor does it depend on time. Each moment of practice, each instant in which you choose to remember the truth, brings you closer to this experience. It does not matter how many times you become distracted or feel distant from truth; what matters is that you keep returning to it.

In today’s practice, it is essential to remember that you are not seeking something outside yourself. The truth already resides in your mind, and your function is simply to clear away the obstacles that prevent you from recognizing it. Each time you repeat today’s idea—Love created me like Itself—you are remembering your true nature and undoing the false images the ego has constructed about you.

Do not be discouraged if, at first, it seems difficult or if you do not feel an immediate connection with the truth. Steady practice and the willingness to release your preconceived concepts are key. Trust that, in time, your mind will become more receptive to the light of truth, and that transformative experience will come.

My happiness and my function are one.

1. Surely you have noticed the emphasis placed throughout our recent lessons on the relationship between fulfilling your function and attaining happiness.

²This is because you still do not truly see that relationship.

³Yet between these two ideas there is more than just a connection—they are the same.

⁴Their form is different, but their content is exactly the same.

2. The ego wages a constant battle with the Holy Spirit over the fundamental question of what your function is.

²And also over what your happiness is.

³It is not a two-sided battle.

⁴The ego attacks, but the Holy Spirit does not respond.

⁵He knows what your function is.

⁶He knows that your function is your happiness.

3. Today we will try to go beyond this entirely senseless conflict and reach the truth about your function.

²We will not engage in endless arguments about what it is.

³We will not desperately attempt to define happiness or determine the means to attain it. ^I

⁴We will not indulge the ego by listening to its attacks on truth.

⁵We will simply rejoice that we can discover what the truth is.

4. The goal of today’s longer practice period is to accept the fact that not only is there a very real connection between the function God gave you and your happiness—they are actually identical.

²God gives only happiness.

³Therefore, the function He gave you must be happiness, even if it appears to take a different form.

⁴Today’s exercises are an attempt to go beyond these apparent differences and recognize the shared content that is truly the same.

5. Begin the session by reflecting for ten to fifteen minutes on the following thoughts:

²God gives me only happiness.

³He has given me my function.

⁴Therefore, my function must be happiness.

⁵Try to see the logic of this sequence, even if you do not yet fully accept the conclusion. ^II

⁶The conclusion can only be false if the first two statements are incorrect.

⁷So let us consider the premises for a while.

6. The first premise is that God gives you only happiness.

²This could be false, of course, but in order for it to be false you would have to define God as something He is not.

³Love cannot give evil, and what is not happiness is evil.

⁴God cannot give what He does not have, nor have what He is not.

⁵If God does not give only happiness, He must be evil.

⁶And if you do not accept that God gives you only happiness, it is because you believe He must be evil.

7. The second premise is that God has given you your function.

²We have seen that your mind has only two parts.

³One is ruled by the ego and made up of illusions.

⁴The other is the home of the Holy Spirit and the dwelling place of truth.

⁵You can choose only between these two guides.

⁶And your choice yields only two possible results: the fear the ego always brings, and the Love the Holy Spirit always offers in its place.

8. Thus, either God established your function through His Voice, or it was set by the ego you made to replace God.

²Which of these alternatives is true?

³If your function was not given by God, then it must be a gift from the ego.

⁴But what can the ego really give you, when it is itself only an illusion and offers nothing but the illusion of gifts? ^III

9. Reflect on this during today’s longer practice.

²Also reflect on the many forms the illusion of your function has taken in your mind, and on the many ways you have tried to find salvation by following the ego’s guidance. ^IV

³Did you find it?

⁴Were you happy?

⁵Did it bring you peace?

⁶Today we must be very honest. ^V

⁷Recall the results with even-mindedness, and also consider whether it was ever reasonable to expect happiness from anything the ego has ever proposed.

⁸Yet the ego is your only alternative to the Voice of the Holy Spirit.

10. You will hear madness, or you will hear truth.

²Try to make this choice by considering the premises on which our conclusion rests.

³We may not agree on anything else, but we can agree on this conclusion.^VI

⁴For God Himself shares it with us.

11. Today’s idea is another giant step in learning to perceive what is the same as the same, and what is different as different.

²On one side stand all illusions.

³On the other, all truth.

⁴Let us try today to understand that only truth is true.

12. In the shorter practice periods, which will be especially helpful today if done twice an hour, it is suggested that you apply the idea in this form:

²My happiness and my function are one, because God has given both to me.

³It will take no more than a minute—probably even less—to say these words slowly and think about them a little as you do.

---

^I Happiness is a real concept and, as such, it cannot be defined—that is, it cannot be limited by words. Happiness, like peace, is the condition of Being. Nevertheless, it may be helpful to describe the human resonance of true happiness, which, stated very simply, is characterized by joy in the heart, peace in the mind, and the absolute certainty that this condition is permanent. In this world, everything you do from this state of mind will be right, because you will be fulfilling your function correctly.

Jesus invites us to feel joyous and to share our joy with others; to live in peace and reflect that peace in our relationships; to free ourselves from fear by recognizing that we are safe and protected from all harm, and to transmit that sense of safety to our brothers, healing them by dispelling their fear and guilt.

And all of this—to what extent? As far as it is possible for us. Remember: it is not in your hands to decide how far you will go, but it is in your hands to decide where you are heading.

^II It is evident how much importance this Course gives to rational thought and logic. As stated in T-14.I.1:4: “The Holy Spirit uses logic as easily and as well as the ego, except that His conclusions are not insane.” Jesus often uses syllogisms, a form of deductive reasoning derived from Greek logic, consisting of two propositions as premises and another as a conclusion, the latter being a necessarily deductive inference from the former two. Perhaps the most notable aspect of this kind of reasoning is that its conclusions are binding—that is, they require a certain behavior derived from them. To accept the premises, to assume the conclusion as true, and not to act accordingly constitutes a rupture with rational thought, a form of madness, and most likely, an incursion into magical thinking, which is irrational.

All the reasoning that follows aims to convince the mind that consistent forgiveness is the best way to act in every circumstance, and the only one that guarantees happiness. It is no longer merely a matter of following a divine commandment or a counsel from Jesus; here we are shown that we must fulfill the function the Holy Spirit has assigned to us because it is the only thing that will provide what we truly want: happiness.

^III Perhaps you are still not fully convinced that the ego’s gifts are nothing but “illusions of gifts,” something without real value. To begin, notice carefully why Jesus uses the term illusion. Realize that it comes from the Latin verb illúdere, which means “to mock” or “to make fun of.” The ego “plays” with you when it offers its “gifts,” because lúdere means “to play,” and illúdere means “to play against”—that is, to mock. The ego deceives you and is laughing at you.

To see the trick the ego uses to deceive you, you can follow a chain of “for what purpose”. When you think something in this world will make you happy, ask yourself what you want it for, and you will probably answer that you want it because it will bring you something else that is also desirable. Then ask again what you want that for, and you will begin to uncover a whole sequence of motives that were not very obvious at first. If you carry out this process flawlessly, the final for what purpose is always to be happy. Also realize that, in fact, the intermediate elements of that sequence are only the rungs of a ladder you think will take you to future happiness. Nothing could be further from the truth. You spend your life building a ladder to nowhere.

Happiness is a real concept, and as such, it exists only in real time, and the only real aspect of time is the present. If you are not happy in the present, you never will be. Fulfilling the function God has given you does make you happy in the present, and fulfilling it perfectly requires nothing external to the function itself; it is something whole, complete, and existing in the present. However, what the ego promises you always lies in the future—that is, never—because the future does not exist. There has never been anything but the present.

^IV Just as the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit is one, absolute, and definitive, the ego offers you an endless number of partial “salvations” to the many problems and deficiencies you perceive when your mind interprets reality under its guidance.

^V You must always be very honest. Deceiving yourself is the greatest of follies. But today it is especially important that you consider what is being said with great attention and be particularly honest in your response, because what you tell yourself will have important consequences… unless, even knowing the truth, you decide to continue wasting your life. If so, do not worry too much; it only means that you have not yet reached the level of pain that will drive you to change. It is only a matter of time—but remember, this Course is meant to save time, that is, to save you suffering. The decision for true salvation is inevitable.

^VI Because there is no other. Remember that there are only two voices: the ego’s and the Holy Spirit’s. If you think there is a third one, and that this other voice is your own judgment, realize that you are deceiving yourself—that is the ego. The ego, the Holy Spirit, and “you” do not coexist. No! In your mind there are only the ego and the Holy Spirit—and the ego is an illusion.

The ego offers you a false sense of control and autonomy, but in reality, it only keeps you trapped in an endless cycle of desires and fears. Every time you follow its dictates, you are renouncing your true power and happiness. By contrast, when you choose to listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit, you are choosing the peace and clarity that arise from recognizing your true identity as the Son of God.

Happiness is not something to be sought in the future or in external circumstances. It is a natural state that arises when you align your mind with truth and fulfill the function God has given you. In forgiving, you are freeing yourself from the chains of the ego and opening your heart to the joy that has always been present within you.

So today, become aware of the illusions that have distracted you and choose to return to the truth. There is nothing to fear, for happiness and your function are one and the same, and both are a gift from God. By accepting this, you are taking a decisive step toward the peace and fulfillment that are your inheritance.