By Grace I live. By Grace I am released.
1. Grace is the aspect of God’s Love most like the state prevailing in the Unity of Truth.
²It is the highest aspiration of the world, for it transcends it entirely.
³It is beyond all learning, yet the goal of learning, for Grace cannot come until the mind prepares itself to truly welcome it.
⁴Grace comes inevitably and instantly to those who have made a place for it to rest, a clean and holy altar where it is gently laid and gladly received.
2. Grace is the acceptance of the Love of God within a world of seeming hate and fear.
²It is the means by which hate is finally undone, and fear is overcome.
³It brings a state so different from anything the world contains, that those whose minds are lit by the gift of Grace cannot believe the world of fear is real.
3. Grace is not learned.I
²The final step must go beyond all learning.
³Grace is not the goal this Course aspires to attain.
⁴Yet we prepare for it, for in an open mind it can be welcomed.
⁵A mind not closed to the Voice for God.
⁶A mind aware that it knows not, and therefore open to a state completely different from experience with which it is familiar.
4. Perhaps we seem to contradict our statement that the revelation that the Father and the Son are One has been already set.II
²But we have also said the mind determines when that time will be, and has already done so.III
³Yet we urge you to bear witness to the Word of God, to hasten the experience of truth, and speed its advent into every mind that recognizes its effects through you.IV
5. Oneness is simply the idea God is.
²And in His Being, He encompasses all things.
³No mind holds anything but Him.
⁴We say “God is,” and then we cease to speak, for in that knowledge words are meaningless.
⁵There are no lips to speak them, and no part of the mind is distinct enough to feel it is aware of something not itself.
⁶It has united with its Source, and like its Source, it simply is.
6. We cannot speak, nor write, nor even think of this at all.
²It comes to every mind when total recognition that its will is God’s has been completely given and received entirely.
³It returns the mind to the eternal present, where the past and future cannot be conceived.
⁴It lies beyond salvation, past all thought of time, forgiveness, and the holy face of Christ.
⁵The Son of God has disappeared into His Father, as His Father has disappeared into Him.
⁶The world has never been at all.
⁷Eternity remains a constant state.
7. This is beyond experience we try to hasten.
²Yet forgiveness, taught and learned, brings with it the experiences that bear witness to the time the mind itself determined to abandon all but this.V
³You do not hasten it, in that what you will offer was concealed from Him Who teaches what forgiveness means.
8. All learning was already in His Mind, accomplished and complete.
²He recognized all that time holds, and gave it to all minds that each might determine, from a point where time has ended, when it is released to revelation and eternity.
³We have repeated many times that you but undertake a journey that is over.VI
9. For Oneness must be here and now.
²Whatever time the mind has set for revelation is irrelevant to what must be a constant state, forever as it always was and always will remain.
³We merely take the part assigned long since and fully recognized as perfectly fulfilled by Him Who wrote salvation’s script in His Creator’s Name and in the Name of His Son.
10. There is no need to further clarify what no one in the world can understand.
²When revelation comes, you will know and understand completely.
³But now we have a mission here.
⁴We are to speak the Word of God and heed the words which He Himself has given to explain the truth that what has happened is already done.
⁵But what meaning can the words convey to those who still count hours and rise, and work, and go to sleep by them?
11. It is enough to know you have a function here.
²You will know what it is, and understand it fully, when you no longer have need for learning.
³But for now, it does not matter.
⁴For your part is essential to God’s plan for salvation.
⁵Your acceptance of the role assigned to you brings salvation that much nearer to each heart that still beats in doubt, and does not yet join with God.
⁶Forgiveness is the central theme that runs throughout salvation.
⁷It holds all parts together in the meaning it has given them, and ensures the outcome.
12. And now we ask for Grace, the final gift salvation can bestow.
²Experience that Grace provides is temporary,
³for Grace is but a glimpse of Heaven, given for an instant, and then taken back beyond illusions to the Everlasting Truth.
⁴But this enough.
⁵It is this instant out of time that lifts you out of time for all eternity.
⁶Miracles lie in this interval.
⁷This you can give as you receive it.
⁸You will see the face of Christ in all you look upon once you have experienced the holy instant that Grace brings.
13. What is the face of Christ but he who went a moment into timelessness, and brought a clear reflection of the Unity he felt an instant back to bless the world?
²How could you finally attain to it forever, while a part of you remains outside, unknowing, unawakened, and in need of you as witness to the truth? VII
14. Be grateful, then, and glad to give as you receive.
²It has not gone from you, though you may wander for a while.
³A gift you give returns to you again.
⁴The Grace you give has been accepted once again.
⁵And once you have received it, you will give it.
⁶So the circle closes, and the end of all things temporal is brought nearer to the timeless state.
15. What we ask today is what God has willed to be already ours.
²This is the prayer of the Sons of God:
³By Grace I live.
⁴By Grace I am released.
⁵By Grace I give.
⁶By Grace I will release.
I Today brings another spectacular Lesson. How fortunate you are!
Realize that, as the saying goes, “All good things are free.” What is real cannot be attained through the means of the world, for they belong to entirely different realms: the real is real, and the world is an illusion. That is why Grace, the Voice of the Holy Spirit, the Power of God expressed in miracles, or even Revelation itself—which, ultimately, are but different terms referring to Reality—cannot be obtained through our efforts, for, as has already been said, those efforts are illusory, and so is the character who strives.
That spiritual seeker—whether a Christian ascetic, a Hindu sannyasi, or a student of this Course—is an illusory character in a fictional story. The world is an illusion, along with everything it contains, and all who believe they are in it are equally illusory. The paths of the world lead nowhere, because the world does not exist. Yet it is also true that these illusory travelers cry out desperately for means to escape their illusory afflictions, and thus the illusory comfort of the Atonement is given—the last illusion.
Notice that in this Course, verbs such as give, grant, and bestow are used to describe the interventions of the real into the dream of the world—whether in the form of God’s Gifts, Grace, or healing. This gives the impression of a sort of transfer from reality into illusion to supply some lack and improve it. In truth, that is not so, nor is that its purpose. You do not need to improve the world, but simply to recognize that it is not real, and that recognition is indeed healing and has a positive effect on the illusion. What are miracles, if not that? In any case, the goal is not to create happy characters living in a wonderful world, but to awaken to the realization that you are not a character; you are the Son of God and are not in any world, but in the Heart of your Father. Remember: “My Kingdom is not of this world.”
But that is not what the ego-bound mind desires, for such an awareness would annihilate once and for all the idea of having a personal identity—separate, independent, and autonomous—one that believes it moves according to its own will and makes its own plans. At times those plans appear noble and highly spiritual, and thus the ego embarks on a difficult journey of self-improvement that allows it to distinguish itself from its brothers, who are more “materialistic” than it, and through its own efforts and sacrifices, it imagines it ascends to God.
Such is the pitiful path walked by many sincere seekers of truth—but certainly those are not the plans the Holy Spirit has for you.
Look closely at what this Lesson says, and you will see that the key to liberation and to Grace lies in recognition and acceptance, not in effort. Yet, and here is the paradox, it seems you must strive greatly to learn that all effort is unnecessary. Therefore, strive diligently to fulfill your role impeccably, and be happy as your Father intended. Forgive, embody the living Word within yourself, and carry it to your brothers so that they may live again with you and through you.
Relax and trust. Purify your mind and align your will. But realize that it is impossible for you to obtain the Grace of God to free yourself from anything, for God already created you in Grace and by Grace, and so it has been and always will be. When you become aware of that, you may call it liberation, but it will be nothing other than realizing you have always been free and dwell within His Heart.
Grace is not a favor fallen from heaven upon a few chosen ones—it is the echo of your deepest desire. It is not a gift to be begged for, but a certainty to be accepted. The key lies in radical honesty: do you want it or not? For the only thing you truly have is your will. And if you truly want Grace, you will have to make room for it—you will have to clear your mental table and leave it free of the world’s crumbs.
This is not about “doing” anything, but about wanting something above all else. That will is not effort—it is decision. Grace occurs, Jesus says, in the one who sincerely desires it and prepares the altar for it. The altar is not built with conceptual bricks but with emotional honesty. And if, when you look within, you find that it is not yet your priority, that’s all right—acknowledge it, and then do the only thing you can do: move it higher up your pyramid of priorities.
Grace is not an inaccessible mystery—it is the acceptance of God’s Love. Nothing more. There is no need to beg for it, earn it, or understand it. Only to accept it. If you have not yet done so, it is not for lack of capacity but for lack of priority. And that can be changed. The first step: stop lying to yourself about what you truly want. Grace is not begged for—it is desired.
II W-158.3:1 “That time is set already.”
III W-158.2:8–9 “The revelation that the Father and the Son are One will come in time to every mind. But that time is determined by the mind itself, for it is not something that can be taught.”
IV John 1:7–8 “He came as a witness, to bear witness to the Light, that all might believe through him. He was not that Light, but came to bear witness to that Light.”
V Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
That is the moment when the mind has decided to abandon all illusion.
VI T-26.V.3:3–4 “Time lasted but an instant in your mind, and it has not affected eternity at all. So is it with all the time that passed, for it is exactly as it was before the journey to nothingness was undertaken.”
T-26.V.13:4 “There is no obstacle to the Will of God, and no need to repeat a journey that was over long ago.”
T-28.I.1:8 “This world was over long ago.”
W-158.3:6 “We but undertake a journey that is over.”
W-158.4:5 “For we merely review mentally what has gone by, imagining that we make the journey once again, retracing mentally what has already happened.”
VII That part of you is your brothers who have not yet awakened.