The Salvation of the World Depends on Me.
1. Here is the statement that one day will erase from every mind all trace of arrogance.
²Here is the thought of true humility, which claims no function other than the one that has been assigned to you.
³This declaration expresses your acceptance of the role that has been given you, without insisting on assuming any other.I
⁴It does not judge the role that belongs to you.
⁵It merely acknowledges that the Will of God is done both on earth and in Heaven.II
⁶This thought unites all wills on earth with Heaven’s plan for the salvation of the world, and restores peace to them.
2. Let us not oppose our function.
²We did not establish it.
³It was not our idea.
⁴The means for its perfect fulfillment have been provided for us.
⁵We are merely asked to accept our role with sincere humility, and not to say with dishonest arrogance that we are unworthy of it.
⁶We have the strength to accomplish what has been entrusted to us.
⁷Our minds are perfectly prepared to assume the role assigned by One Who knows us well.
3. Perhaps today’s idea seems somewhat disturbing to you, but only until you understand what it means.
²It merely says that your Father still remembers you, and offers you the perfect trust He has in you, His Son.
³He does not ask you to be in any way different from what you are.
⁴What could humility ask for but this?
⁵And what but this could arrogance deny?
⁶Today we will not evade the task given us under the false pretense that it offends our modesty.
⁷It is pride that refuses to answer the Call of God Himself.
4. Today we set aside all false humility, and listen to the Voice of God revealing what He would have us do.
²We do not doubt our ability to fulfill the function He gives us.
³We will be certain only that He knows our strength, our wisdom, and our holiness.
⁴And if He considers us worthy, then we are.
⁵It is only arrogance that thinks otherwise.
5. There is one way, and only one, to free yourself from the prison where your own plan to prove the false is true has confined you.
²Accept instead a plan that is not your own.
³Do not judge your part in it.
⁴If the Voice of God assures you that salvation needs your role, and that the whole plan depends on you, you can be certain that it is so.
⁵The arrogant cling to words, for they fear to go beyond them to the experience that could call their position into question.
⁶Yet the humble are free to hear the Voice that tells them what they are and what they must do.
6. Arrogance forges an image of yourself that is not real.
²It is this image that cowers and shrinks in fear when the Voice of God assures you that you have the strength, the wisdom, and the holiness to go beyond all images.
³You are not weak, as the image you hold of yourself is.
⁴You are not ignorant nor powerless.
⁵Sin cannot tarnish the truth within you, nor can misery approach the holy home of God.
7. This is what the Voice that speaks for God tells you.
²And when He speaks, that image you have made of yourself trembles, trying to strike back at a threat it cannot recognize, feeling its foundations crumble.
³Abandon that image.
⁴The salvation of the world depends on you, not on that little heap of dust.
⁵What could that possibly say to the holy Son of God?
⁶Why should it be considered at all?
⁷And thus is how we find our peace.
8. We will accept the function God has assigned to us, for every illusion rests upon the strange belief that we can assign another to ourselves.
²The functions we have given ourselves are changeable, shifting from lament to the rapture of love.
³We may laugh or weep, greet the day with happy welcome or with tears.
⁴Our own self seems to change as we experience a thousand shifts of mood, and our emotions may indeed lift us to the heights or plunge us into the blackest despair.
9. Can this be the Son of God?
²Could God have created such instability and called it Son?
³He Who is changeless shares His Attributes with His Creation.
⁴All the images His Son appears to have made have no effect on what he is.
⁵They pass across his mind like leaves swept by the wind, forming a pattern for an instant, parting, regrouping, and again dispersing.
⁶Or like the mirages seen in the desert rising from the dust.
10. When you accept the function given you, all such insubstantial images will disappear, leaving your mind clear and serene.
²The images you conceive only produce purposes that conflict, change, and blur—uncertain and ambiguous.
³Who could persevere in effort, or direct energy and focus toward such goals?
⁴The functions the world esteems are so unstable they may change ten times an hour, at best.
⁵What can you hope to gain from such pursuits?
11. In beautiful contrast, as certain as the sun returning each morning to dispel the night, your true function rises clear and utterly unambiguous.
²There is no doubt of its validity.
³For it comes from One Who knows not error.
⁴And His Voice is certain in Its messages.
⁵His messages do not change nor contradict one another.
⁶And all of them point to one purpose—a goal you can attain.
⁷Your plan may be impossible, but God’s plan can never fail, for He is its Source.
12. Do what the Voice of God directs.
²And if He asks for something that seems impossible, remember Who it is that asks, and who it is that would reject it.
³And now consider this:
⁴Which of the two is more likely to be right?
⁵The Voice that speaks for the Creator of all things, knowing them exactly as they are, or the distorted image you have of yourself—confused, bewildered, inconsistent, and uncertain of everything? III
⁶Do not let that voice direct you.
⁷Instead, hear the unmistakable Voice that tells you of the function your Creator has given you, Who remembers you, and urges you now to remember Him.IV
13. His loving Voice calls from Knowledge to ignorance.
²He desires to comfort you, though He Himself knows not sorrow.
³He would make restitution to you, though He is complete.
⁴He would offer you a gift, though He knows you already have everything.
⁵He has Thoughts that answer every need His Son perceives, though He sees none.
⁶For Love can only give, and what is given in Its Name takes the form most helpful in a world of form.
14. These are the forms that can never deceive, for they come from Formlessness Itself.V
²Forgiveness is an earthly form of love which, as in Heaven, is formless.
³Yet what is needed here is given here, as it is needed.
⁴Here you can fulfill your function in the form your forgiveness may require, but Love will hold greater meaning for you when you have been restored to your natural formlessness.VI
⁵The salvation of the world depends upon your ability to forgive.
⁶Therefore, that is your function here.
I This lesson tears down, once and for all, the false humility. That voice that repeats, “I’m not capable,” “I’m not good enough,” “this isn’t for me,” is, in truth, arrogance in disguise. For to deny what God says of you—that you have the strength, wisdom, and holiness necessary to fulfill your function—is not humility; it is distrust. You are arguing with Jesus. You are telling him he is mistaken about you.
Here you are given the key: you are not asked to be different, or to improve, or to become more “spiritual.” You are only asked to accept what you already are. You do not need to become anyone new, nor to purify yourself, nor to understand everything: a function has been assigned to you, and all the means to fulfill it have been given you. Yet you insist on defining yourself in your own way—with your fears, your limits, and your excuses. And as long as you maintain that image of yourself, you will continue to believe you cannot. But it is not that you cannot; it is that you are using your will to deny what you can.
This lesson turns you inside out: it places you before the fact that your “I can’t” is an active decision—an inverted will, a form of resistance. But it also offers you a simple, luminous way out: stop fighting. Accept your role. Not with resignation, but with trust. Not from the character you invented, but from the being God created.
The world does not need your effort or your perfection. It only needs you to say yes—to say it now, in the present. For this path is not walked through prior preparation, but through faith. And that faith begins when you stop pretending you don’t know who you are.
II Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”
III This distorted image you hold of yourself is the ego with which you still identify.
IV Your mind is in constant agitation. You spend the entire day speculating. You are always chattering with yourself, and you call that thinking. Then you listen to yourself, believe all those fleeting notions that cross your holy mind, and finally act upon those foolish stories you have told yourself. For God’s sake, stop doing that! What you call thinking is precisely the voice of your ego. What else could it be?
You may believe that the voice of the ego is some sinister dictate you have occasionally perceived within, urging you to do evil, and that your usual mental activity is merely innocent thought. Perhaps you recognize that, at times, it is superfluous, yet you still regard it as harmless and pay it little attention.
Do not be mistaken. The ego speaks to you all the time. The ego is, in fact, what you call “your thought.” The purpose of that inner dialogue is to explain to you what “reality” is—and since everything you tell yourself is false, you must repeat it constantly to protect it from the truth. The Voice of the Holy Spirit, on the other hand, generates a completely different experience.
You might understand it better this way: the voice of the ego is always purely formal and refers to concrete concepts. It is problematic, conflictual, and disturbs your peace—whether through fear, anger, or desire.
The Voice of the Holy Spirit, by contrast, is pure content. It does not express itself through words, though you can translate it into words. And what you hear always, always bears the fragrance of a solution to a problem you perceive. His Voice always, always resolves that dilemma and leaves you with a brief feeling of peace that you can extend in time as long as you wish, though its communication is momentary, because it comes from beyond time. Your heart recognizes it immediately and responds with a small leap of joy.
Distinguishing between these two voices is exceedingly simple. If you are in doubt, it is because you are listening to the ego’s voice—of that you can be certain. The Voice of the Holy Spirit always awakens an inexplicable certainty. Remember that all explanations are formal, articulated, and concrete. Explanations are always of the ego. The Holy Spirit does not explain. Does love explain? His Voice is always a solution—just as love is.
Do not be distressed if you discover that, in fact, you are listening to the ego’s voice all the time; that is the “normal” condition of this world. Realize that what matters is not where you are, but where you are headed. Rejoice. More than that, grant your heart the joyful recognition that you are undertaking a Course perfectly designed to lead you toward salvation—and remember, you are doing it well, because you are doing the best you can.
If at any moment you think you are doing it badly and that thought depresses you or makes you feel guilty, recognize that this is the ego’s voice. Do not be mistaken. Simply observe how you feel when you think that way, and you will have no doubt about who is speaking and whom you are listening to. Pay it no heed. Let nothing and no one rob you of the happiness to which you have every right, for that—precisely that—is your Father’s Will.
Be aware that whenever you feel bad, it is because you are listening to the ego. And it is essential that you understand that this is always the only cause of your distress. That voice is insidious and utterly hypocritical, for it will always, always make you believe that something outside itself is responsible for your unhappiness.
There is no such thing—never! Your ego is your only enemy, but your ego does not exist. Your ego is you thinking in that way. There is no one else but you. To think otherwise is precisely the ego’s attempt to prevent you from recognizing that you are responsible for absolutely everything that seems to occur in your life. Remember: you relate only to your own interpretations. Your ego is merely a distorted way of using your holy mind; it is the result of your holy will.
At bottom, it is all quite simple: all that is asked of you is that you take responsibility for your life. That is all.
And if you wish to simplify it even more: all that is asked of you is that you take responsibility for your mind. You need nothing else.
And if even that seems too much, you can reduce it further still: all that is asked of you is that you take responsibility for your will—to take responsibility for what you choose to want.
If you accept this, it will be hard for you ever again to believe that happiness is difficult.
V Amorphy is the perfectly abstract condition of formlessness. It is the state of God in relation to form: God possesses no form whatsoever; He is pure content—the only content that truly exists.
VI Forgiveness, though formless because it is an attitude, will be expressed in this world through forms and specific situations.