As God is Love, He is also happiness.
1. Happiness is an attribute of Love.
²It cannot be apart from It, nor can it be experienced where Love is not.
³Love has no limits, for It is everywhere.
⁴And therefore, joy is everywhere as well.
⁵But the mind can deny that this is so by believing there are gaps in Love through which sin can enter, bringing pain instead of joy. I
⁶This strange belief seeks to limit happiness by redefining Love as something limited, and by introducing opposites into that which has no limits and no opposite. II
2. Fear is then associated with Love, and its effects become the inheritance of minds that think what they have made is real. III
²These images, which are truly unreal, bear witness to the fear of God, forgetting that since God is Love, He must also be Joy.
³Today we will once again bring this fundamental error to the truth, and teach ourselves:
⁴As God is Love, He is also happiness.
⁵To fear God is to be afraid of joy.
⁶Begin your longer practice periods today by joining these ideas, which correct the false belief that God is fear.
⁷And they also affirm the idea that happiness is yours because of what God is. IV
3. Let this correction enter your mind every hour today.
²Then welcome all the happiness that comes from replacing fear with truth; and joy will become what you expect to take the place of pain.
³And since God is Love, that is what will be given you.
⁴Strengthen this hope often throughout the day, and quiet all your fears with this gentle and entirely true assurance:
5As God is Love, He is also happiness.
6And happiness is what I seek today.
7I cannot fail, because I seek the truth.
I As theText points out, the “gaps in love” are the apparent “gap between you and your brother” (T-28.VII.3:1) and the world itself: “What is the world except a tiny gap that seems to tear eternity apart and fragment it into days and months and years?” (T-28.III.6:4).
Review also the first section of Chapter 29 of the Text: “The Closing of the Gap.”
II The “strange belief” is to conceive, value, and uphold the idea that absences exist, which has already been discussed in the previous Lesson and in many others.
However, because it is the root idea of all illusions, it will continue to appear frequently throughout the Workbook.
Becoming aware of this harmful cognitive bias is crucial for the healing of your mind. Try to remain aware that everything you perceive, feel, or think is in continual change; therefore, it has no reality and, in truth, does not exist: it is illusion—everything is.
In this world of illusions, the only thing that saves you from it—from believing it is real and allowing it to affect you—is your forgiveness.
Forgive everything. Let it pass, for it is not real.
III Questioning the message that comes from a perceptual system that regards absences as entities is the next step in freeing your mind from the terrifying stories you now tell yourself. What you see and what you think you did are not real. You are misusing your mind; therefore, the conclusions you reach are mistaken, and your heart warns you of this at every moment.
Pay attention to your heart and understand that an absence of love is not to be permitted. Do not allow it; do not fall into the self-absorption of the world; there is nothing for you in what does not exist.
Your heart will warn you of this, for when you do not feed it with something real—with love—it goes hungry and protests: your heart reacts like a baby when you stop feeding it… with the Love of God.
IV Jesus speaks to you as to a frightened little child because, in truth, that is what you now are because of the way you think. Mature a little, be reasonable, order your mind, think clearly. Quiet your mind and become aware of your own existence; think of nothing else. Stay only with that—with your very existence—rest in existence.
Existence is your Mother, it is your Father, and it is what you are: the infinite fullness of your Being. Do not be afraid; mature, grow, do it by giving, by loving.