Truth will correct all errors in my mind.
1. What can correct illusions but the truth?
²And what are errors but illusions that have not yet been recognized as what they are?
³Where truth has entered, errors simply vanish.
⁴They fade away, leaving not a trace by which to be remembered.
⁵They are gone because, without belief to support them, they have no life.
⁶And so they disappear, returning to the nothingness from which they came.
⁷From dust they come and unto dust they return, for only truth remains. I
2. Can you imagine what a state of mind without illusions would be like? II
²How would you feel?
³Try to remember a time—perhaps just for a moment, maybe even less—when nothing came to interrupt your peace, when you felt certain that you were loved and safe.
⁴Now try to imagine how that moment would extend to the end of time and into eternity.
⁵Then multiply that feeling a hundredfold, and then a hundred more.
⁶And now you have a hint, no more than just the faintest glimpse, of the state in which your mind will rest when truth has come.
3. Without illusions there could be no fear, no doubt, no attack.
²When truth has come, all pain is over, for there is no room left in your mind for passing thoughts or dead ideas.
³Truth takes up your whole mind, freeing you from all beliefs in the temporary.
⁴There is no place left for them because truth has come, and they are nowhere to be found.
⁵They cannot be found, for truth is everywhere and forever.
4. When truth has come, it does not stay a while to disappear or change to something else.
²It does not shift or alter in its form.
³It does not come and go and go and come again.
⁴It stays exactly as it always was, so you can count on it in every need and trust it with a perfect certainty in all apparent difficulties and doubts that come from the appearances the world presents.
⁵All these will simply fade away as truth corrects all errors in your mind.
5. When truth has come, it brings with it the gift of perfect constancy and a Love that looks on pain but does not flinch.
²Here is the gift of healing, for truth needs no defense, and thus no attack is possible.
³Illusions may be brought to truth to be corrected.
⁴But truth stands far beyond illusions, and cannot be brought to them to turn them into truth.
6. Truth does not come and go.
²It does not change or shift.
³It does not take one form and then another.
⁴It does not hide from being found.
⁵It does not try to escape.
⁶It stays in full light, clearly accessible.
⁷It is impossible for anyone to seek it truly and not find it.
7. This day belongs to truth.
²Give truth its due, and it will give you what is yours.
³You were not made to suffer and to die.
⁴Your Father wills these dreams be gone.
⁵Let truth correct them all.
8. We are not asking for what is not already ours. III
²We merely ask to recognize what is already given, so we may acknowledge we already have it.
³Today we practice in the happy certainty that comes from truth.
⁴We do not walk with hesitant steps of illusion today.
⁵We are as sure of success as we are of life, of trust, of breathing, and of thought.
⁶We have no doubt today that we walk with truth, and we rely on it to carry us through every practice period we do.
9. Begin by asking Him Who goes with you in this undertaking to make Himself known to you as you follow Him. IV
²You are not made of flesh, of blood, and bone, but were created by the very Thought that gave Him life as well.
³He is your Brother, and so like to you your Father knows that both of you are one.
⁴It is your Self you ask to go with you, and how could He be absent where you are?
10. Truth will correct all errors in your mind—all the thoughts that tell you you can be apart from Him.
²Speak to Him today, and promise that you will let His function be fulfilled through you.
³To share His function is to share His joy.
⁴His confidence is with you as you say:
⁵Truth will correct all errors in my mind,
⁶And I will rest in Him Who is my Self.
⁷Then let Him lead you gently to the truth, which will enfold you and bring you peace so deep and quiet that you will find it hard to return to the familiar world you know.
11. And yet you will rejoice to look upon that world again.
²For you will bring with you the promise of the changes truth will bring to it, as you allow truth to be corrected in your mind.
³These changes will multiply with every five minutes you give, and the errors that cover the world will be corrected as you allow them to be corrected in you.
12. Do not forget your function today.
²Each time you say with confidence, “Truth will correct all errors in my mind,”
you speak for all the world, and for the One Who would release the world by setting you free.
I If you feel inclined to think about truth—if the idea of truth arises in your mind—it means you have a serious problem. Only a sick mind can consider the idea of “truth.” For what is truth? Obviously, truth is what is, what exists; that is what you call “truth.” Truth is your Being. You are the truth. Truth is what you are. That is why Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Then what makes the notion of truth meaningful to you? Why should it be? How is it that the mind seriously entertains the idea of “seeking the truth”? Why would anyone ever need to seek what is, what exists? Do you realize that this very fact already shows that something is wrong?
If you believe you must seek the truth, that can only mean that your mind is not functioning properly. If truth is something to be sought, it means that the mind does not know reality—and if the mind does not know reality, what does it know, then? With what does it relate? That mind must be engaging with something unreal, with something that is not true. And what sense does that make? What purpose could it serve?
A mind that seeks the truth is a mind relating to illusions—to ideas devoid of real content, to imaginations. And how does it do this? How can the mind become interested in something that is nothing, that does not exist? All this is explained in Section VIII of Chapter 7 of the Text: The Ego’s Use of Projection.
Though words fall short—for they are symbols used to describe reality, which itself is not symbolic—we could put it this way: in this Course, the word “mind” is used to refer to the active principle of “spirit,” which may be understood as the condition of “Being,” of “reality,” of what “exists.” Reality is spiritual. It can be intuitively understood that the terms “being,” “manifesting,” “giving,” “loving,” and “extending” are closely related, and that is why the Text says that the fundamental law of the mind is the law of extension.
We can grasp the idea that “Being,” through the “mind,” manifests by giving or extending its own existence—what Being itself is—and that this is what is called “creation.” Everything related to Being is purely real, that is, entirely abstract, limitless, and timeless, and it cannot be understood by the concrete or personal mind, for they belong to different realms, of which only one is real, while the other is imaginary.
The mind creates when it extends its own entity, its own being—and this is intrinsically logical. However, it also happens that the mind can project—if it so wills—what it itself is not, what does not exist. To this surprising fact, this Course gives the name “believing,” which could be understood as the spurious form of creating.
In this case, the mind projects outside itself what does not exist, what is nothing, and believes in it—that is, it regards it as real and even fears it, though it also feels drawn to it, for although it is unlike itself, it is its offspring, and thus it calls that belief its “child.” Obviously, that quality of reality is exclusive to the mind that conceived it, and to no one else. Thus, the mind believes that what is not itself—and does not exist—is real and true.
Since being and loving are the same, when the mind projects what it is not (believing), it is projecting what it does not love—it is projecting absences of love. In fact, in such a case, the mind is not truly projecting anything at all, for love is the only thing that is real and that exists. In this confused state, the mind projects outside itself (rejects) the opposite of what it is, and that is why the illusions the mind believes in are concrete and frightening. They are not real, yet to the mind that conceived them they are, because it believes in them. This multitude of illusions constitutes the imaginary world in which the mind that seeks the truth believes it exists.
It is perfectly understandable that a sick mind would seek the truth, for everything it thinks it perceives feels profoundly unsatisfying—precisely because it constructed it by projecting absences of love, and now that fearful landscape fills its awareness.
This is a Course for sick minds that seek the truth. They are minds submerged in a permanent hallucination, populated by fearful illusions—among them their own imagined identity, which is itself an illusion. The mind that believes in all these falsehoods cannot find the truth by itself, for it was the cause of that confusion, and therefore its “doing” will not save it. But the opposite—its “not doing”—will. This is why this Course constantly urges you not to do, for you do not know how to do; you do not know how to extend love; you have forgotten how to create and are focused instead on believing. Yet you can—and must—stop believing in your illusory offspring.
Perhaps at this point you are wondering what on earth you must believe in to be saved, to know the truth, and to enjoy the infinite joy of being. Well, the answer is very simple: you do not need to believe in anything. Believing is a misuse of the mind; it is precisely what has led you into this miserable state. But there is something very important you must never forget, for in it lies salvation: to think that you are in a miserable state, in a fearful world, and in need of seeking the truth is also a belief—and it, too, is not true. Rejoice, then, and realize that, in truth, you have no need to be saved from anything, nor to seek the truth; it will find you, because the truth is you.
But until you realize this—and if you wish to take some time for that discovery—you may begin to dismantle that intricate scaffolding of beliefs you have built little by little, yet relentlessly. To begin with, you should look with a touch of disbelief at anything that comes to your mind: you can be absolutely certain that it is false. Nothing you think with your personal mind is true, nor will it ever be. Perhaps some things that occur to you may be somewhat aligned with truth, but it is better not to take them too seriously or give them much importance. Remember that whenever you have given importance to something, you have ended up suffering, so better not go down that road. Stop giving importance to things—to everything—even to the idea of the salvation of your immortal soul. Do not worry about that; rest assured that it does not. Empty your mind of everything and adopt a receptive attitude. That will always do you good.
Practice the exercises of this Workbook with detachment, yet with good cheer and confidence, and be happy in the present—right now.
Genesis 3:19: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
II In this Lesson, the term “illusions” is not used in the usual sense it often has in the Course, where it refers to false or distorted perceptions of reality. Here it refers instead to another kind of deception: the expectations you have placed upon idols—the forms of the world—in the hope that they will fill your supposed lacks and provide what you think you need. This semantic nuance comes closer to the everyday meaning of the expression “to build illusions,” that is, to form unfounded hopes or to trust in something that in reality lacks substance or true capacity to satisfy you. Therefore, in this context, “illusions” does not refer to what you see, but to what you mistakenly expect to receive from the world and its forms.
This Lesson associates peace and truth with the absence of expectations—that is, with the transcendence of every sense of lack. To understand it this way is to recognize that expectations arise from a perception of insufficiency—from the belief that something external must come to complete you. When that demand disappears—that yearning projected toward the future—a direct and present experience of fullness opens, where there is no longer any search, for nothing is missing. It is there that peace reveals itself as a natural state, and truth as something that has always been present but was veiled by the desire for things to be different.
III Of course! When it speaks of truth, it is speaking of you—of your essential reality. Truth is one of the three aspects of Being (Truth–Love–Power).
IV “The One Who walks with you” is your Self—Christ—Who accompanies you on the journey Home as Companion and Brother, yet when you awaken, you will recognize Him as your very Self.