I Walk with God in Perfect Holiness.
1. Today’s idea is nothing more than the simple truth that makes the notion of sin impossible.
²It states that guilt has no cause, and being causeless, does not exist.
³It is the natural consequence of that fundamental idea so often stated in the Text: ideas leave not their source. I
⁴If this is true, how could you be separate from God?
⁵How could you walk the world alone and apart from your Source? II
2. The ideas we present in our curriculum never contradict each other.
²Truth must always be true to be true.
³It cannot contradict itself, nor be true in some instances and false in others.
⁴You cannot walk the world apart from God, because you could not exist without Him.
⁵He is your life.
⁶He is where you are. III
⁷There is only One Life.
⁸And that is the Life you share with Him.
⁹Nothing can be separate from Him and still live. IV
3. But where He is, there must also be Holiness, along with Life.
²Everything that lives shares all His Attributes.
³All that lives is as holy as He is, for what shares His Life is part of Holiness, and it is as impossible for it to harbor sin as it is for the sun to choose to be made of ice, for the sea to be apart from water, or for the grass to grow with its roots suspended in the air.
4. There is a Light in you that can never go out, and Whose Presence is so holy that the world is blessed because of you.
²All living things offer you gifts and lay them at your feet in gratitude and joy.
³The fragrance of flowers is their gift to you.
⁴The waves bow down before you, the trees stretch out their arms to shield you from the sun and let their leaves fall gently at your feet, that you may walk in softness, while the wind surrounds your holy head with whispers.
5. The Light in you is what the universe longs to see.
²All living things become still before you, for they recognize the One Who walks with you. V
³The Light you carry is their own.
⁴And thus they see in you their holiness, and greet you as their Savior and the Son of God.
⁵Accept their reverence, for it is given to the Holiness Itself that walks with you, transforming all things gently in Its Light into Its likeness and Its purity. VI
6. This is how salvation works.
²When you step back, the Light in you goes forward and embraces the world.
³It does not proclaim the end of sin through punishment and death.
⁴Sin simply disappears in silence and in peace, when it is seen as nothing more than a foolish misperception.
⁵The idea of sin is insane, a silly dream, perhaps ridiculous, but never to be feared.
⁶And who would choose to delay even a moment his approach to God for such a foolish whim?
7. Yet you have spent many years in just such foolishness.
²The past is gone, with all its fantasies.
³They no longer hold you.
⁴Your approach to God is near.
⁵And in that brief remaining space of doubt, you may forget your Companion and mistake Him for the foolish dream that now is over.
8. “Who walks with me?”
²You should ask this question a thousand times a day, until certainty dispels all doubt and brings peace at last.
³Today, let there be no doubt.
⁴God speaks for you in answering your question with these words:
⁵I walk with God in perfect holiness.
⁶I light the world, I light my mind,
⁷And all the minds that God created one with me.VII
I T-19.I.8:7 “The RESULT of an idea is NEVER separate from its source.”
T-26.VII.16:2–3 “God’s Will is that you learn what has always been true: that He created you as part of Himself. And this must forever be true, FOR ideas do not leave their source.” (See also the note on Lesson 132.)
II Today’s lesson is very simple and very powerful. It consists simply in removing all that does not exist, because it is not true, leaving only what is truly there. To do this lesson well, you need only withdraw from your mind all the ideas you have placed there on your own. You need do nothing more. You must withdraw them for the simple reason that they are not true, they are in the way, and they prevent you from perceiving the truth in yourself and in everything.
You may think that this Course is asking you to believe in a series of wonderful ideas that contradict what the world teaches you about reality, and whose truth cannot be proven. It is not so. What this Course proposes is almost the opposite: it asks you precisely to stop believing in all those stories you tell yourself. They are not true. You cannot even imagine how you would see the world if you stopped constantly telling yourself what it is.
Realize that you spend your life talking to yourself. This obsessive internal dialogue has as its purpose fixing in your mind a description of the world that is false, and, precisely because it is a great lie, it must be constantly sustained by that incessant chatter. If you stopped talking to yourself, you would see a different world.
It is very important that you become aware of why, and how, you see the world as you now believe it to be. You do not realize the enormous effort you make to maintain that world in your mind. Have you ever asked yourself why you cannot stop your internal dialogue, and what its effects are? Well, now you know. When the thought crosses your mind that this Course is trying to wash your brain and convince you of some fanciful illusion, ask yourself whether that is not exactly what you are doing all the time to yourself.
Do not be discouraged when you find yourself unable to stop your inner dialogue. Although it is ideal to learn to quiet your mind and bring it into silence, you will not be able to restrain that tendency of yours to tell yourself stories constantly—at least at first. But you can redirect their theme.
You may remember how the Text explains that the Holy Spirit can use the ego’s resources for His holy purpose. This is exactly what you are asked to do when you are told to consider and apply the daily ideas of this book to the world you know. Watch your inner dialogue, become aware of it, and do not allow it to run wild with thoughts of sin, guilt, and attack. Learn to take the reins of your interpretations and guide them along gentler paths. In any case, they will be equally fanciful and unreal, but they will no longer hurt you, and they can help prepare your mind for forgiveness.
By their fruits you shall know them. By now you must be quite clear on what the fruits of the world taste like. Do you like their flavor? Do they nourish your soul? Do they make you happy and joyful and bring you peace? If not, why do you keep eating them? Try something else—you might like it better.
You walk the world in perfect holiness for the simple reason that God created you holy, although, as you now know, you make enormous efforts to convince yourself otherwise.
Stop believing. Clear your mind and look upon the world anew. Remember that you do not have to make any effort to establish in yourself another way of seeing; you need only stop striving to impose upon yourself a sickly vision. That is all. Nothing more.
Do not be troubled if, after half a year of doing these exercises, you are surprised to discover that you did not understand the first lessons. “My thoughts do not mean anything.” But not only that: besides having no real meaning, your meaningless thoughts are blocking your vision.
You walk the world in perfect holiness. Now you need only realize that this is truly so. It always has been, and it always will be.
III John 14:3 “And when I go, I will prepare a place for you. I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
IV Acts 17:28 “For in Him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed His offspring.’”
V It is worth noting that the original English expression here is living things. It appears forty-six times in the Text. However, the much more usual English expression living beings never appears even once. The FIP version of theCourse, however, always translates it as “living beings.” Jesus refers to the illusions of the world as “things,” not as “beings.” It is very important to keep this in mind, for it represents an absolute shift in paradigm regarding the nature and condition of the concept of “person.” Persons are not “beings” that cause anything; they are not causes, but effects. Your condition as a “being” does not arise from that “personal” idea you have of yourself, but from your condition as the Son of God.
VI Genesis 1:26–27 “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’”
VII This lesson affirms something the ego cannot tolerate: that you walk with God, in perfect holiness. Not as a distant promise, not as a future possibility, but as a present fact. And that changes everything.
Your mind may still resist. It may say: “It’s not true. I am not holy. I do not walk with God. I don’t feel it, I don’t see it, I don’t believe it.” And yet, you are doing so. Even if you do not know it. Even if you do not feel it. Even if your thoughts say otherwise, the truth has not changed. Holiness is your natural state. It does not depend on your actions, on what you believe, or on your personal history. It is the reflection of what you are, and what you are has never ceased to be united with God.
Today you are told: let the light within you go before you. You do not have to push it, nor manufacture it. You need only allow it to guide you. And you will see how the world begins to recognize you. Not because you say anything, but because they will see in you what is in themselves. They will see their own light reflected. And then they will know.
This is not about doing. It is about allowing. It is not about changing anything. It is about seeing from another place. Your light has nothing to prove. It need only be. And when it is, everything is transformed. This is the key: step aside, and let the holiness that walks with you transform the world as you pass. So simple. So powerful.