Introduction
1. We are now ready for another review.
²We will begin where the last review left off and take two ideas each day.
³The first part of the day will be devoted to one of these ideas, and the second to the other. I
⁴Each of these periods will include one longer practice period, supported by shorter and more frequent sessions dedicated to each idea.II
2. The longer practice periods will follow this general format:
²Spend about fifteen minutes with each one, beginning with the idea and the accompanying comments.
³Spend three or four minutes reading them slowly, several times if you wish, and then close your eyes and listen.
⁴If your mind wanders, return to the idea and reflect on it again, but try to devote most of the time to listening silently and attentively. III
3. There is a message waiting for you.
²Trust that you will receive it.
³Remember that it is your right and that you want it.
⁴Do not let your will be weakened by thoughts that seek to distract you.
⁵Realize that whatever form those thoughts may take, they mean nothing and have no power. IV
⁶Replace them with your determination to succeed. V
4. Do not forget that your will is stronger than fantasies and dreams. VI
²Trust it to carry you through and beyond all of them. VII
³Consider these practice periods as devoted to the way, the truth, and the life. VIII
⁴Refuse to be pulled into distraction, illusion, and thoughts of death. IX
⁵You are committed to salvation.
⁶Be determined to fulfill your function each day. X
5. Reaffirm your determination in the shorter practice periods, using the original form of the idea for general application, and adapting it when needed.
²The accompanying comments include some specific variations.
³But these are merely suggestions.
⁴The actual words you use do not matter.
I In the morning we practice one idea, and in the afternoon the other.
II Both morning and evening, devote fifteen minutes to reflecting on the corresponding idea, and then take brief moments throughout the rest of the day as often as possible. Above all, keep those ideas in mind whenever the circumstances of the day offer you opportunities to practice them.
Without any doubt, this will happen, and applying an idea to a specific problem is the best way to assimilate it, thus turning that application into a mental habit. That automatic response will benefit you in ways beyond description throughout your life and will become a new, benevolent habit. Nothing will ever be the same again.
This way of living is simply the practical application of your new thought system—the goal of this Course.
III This is a receptive, expectant mental attitude. It is a way of praying: first you ask; then you wait for the answer. The most important part is the second, obviously.
In fact, with these practices you are training your mind to listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit, and that should be the natural stance of your mind for the rest of your life on earth.
A serene, disciplined mind—at peace, attentive to the inner Voice, and in harmony with its own heart—is a right, sound, miracle-minded mind. That is the mind of a miracle worker.
Realize that this Course is mental training that will lead you to live from a new definition of yourself. But to achieve this, you must first relinquish the prior idea with which you have identified. That process entails renouncing and leaving behind what you believe to be your true will. However, because you are so immersed in that false identity, it will likely be very difficult for you to take that step.
At the end of the Text, there is a specific practice that represents the culmination of all you have learned up to that point: the first section of chapter 30, “Rules for Decision”, where you learn to let yourself be guided by the Voice of the Holy Spirit. This part of the Workbook marks the beginning of your training in that direction, which will be consolidated in the Second Part of the book, which begins with Lesson 220.
IV Your old thought system will try constantly to interfere with your learning. Pay no attention to it. That is not you. It is only the automatic mechanism your mind has been using until now.
It has embittered your life, and you do not want it. Do not allow it to intrude now. The only real content of your thoughts is the infinitesimal amounts of love they may have harbored. That has, in any case, been their only microscopic meaning.
As for their power, in themselves they have never had any—only what you have conferred upon them by believing in them.
V It is an answer to which you are fully entitled. Remember, it has been promised to you: “Ask, and it shall be given.” And you can be sure it is so.
But note that it must also be an answer you truly want. This is the most important part, for it is what allows the results of your will to manifest.
Jesus does not deceive you; you can trust Him—but you do not need to do so blindly. Do what He tells you and look with absolute honesty at the results.
VI Notice the emphasis placed on will. Your will is the only thing that exists, and the fantasies and dreams you have had have been the result of misapplying your will.
VII Many students of this blessed Course, when practicing listening to the Voice of the Holy Spirit in their mind, experience doubts about the truthfulness of the answers they receive. They often suspect that what they hear could be coming from the ego and not from the Holy Spirit—especially when those answers prove uncomfortable or challenging. It is important to understand that this doubt is precisely the ego’s voice, for the ego is always the one who questions and generates uncertainty.
To carry out this exercise correctly, it is essential, from the heart and with absolute honesty, to relinquish any personal expectation and every prior interpretation of the circumstances. Only in this fresh and fertile ground, free of conditioning, can the true answer manifest.
What you hear in itself is not the most important thing. What truly hallows the answer is the trust with which you receive it. Trust fully in the Holy Spirit; trust also in yourself, and thus hallow what you receive through the transforming power of your trust. Trust is holy, it possesses power, and it hallows whatever it is placed upon.
Ultimately, what is decisive is not so much what you do as the attitude from which you do it. Authentic trust fosters a state of mind this Course calls “miraculous.” In that state, the mind—freed from the ego and from doubts—rests constantly upon trust. For that reason, it has continual access to the Power of God, lives from innocence, expresses benevolence, and experiences an absolute sense of protection and invulnerability.
That is the state of mind you deserve.
VIII John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
These practices guided by Jesus are your way to the Truth and the Life.
IX Whenever you feel tempted, realize that it is always a struggle of you against yourself, and, if you think about it, you will understand that temptations are nothing but sheer foolishness and a lack of honesty, consistency, and commitment.
You still have a mind split between two opposing thought systems, and that is stressing you. Simply choose one and abandon the other.
X Not every day; every minute, every second. Realize that you are not a child of the past; you are born anew and innocent in the present instant. The you who inhabits the present is always new and immaculate. In the present you are affected only by your present thoughts, though these may refer to the past or to the future; yet they are always of the present, offspring of your will.
Be impeccable; exercise your will; listen, and trust.
LESSON 81
Our ideas for today’s review are: W-61 and W-62
1. W-61. “I am the light of the world.” I
2. How holy I am, for the function of lighting the world has been entrusted to me!
²Let me remain calm in the presence of my Holiness. II
³Let all my conflicts vanish in Its quiet Light. III
⁴And in Its Peace, let me remember who I am. IV
3. Some specific forms of applying this idea when difficulties seem to arise could be:
²Let me not obscure the light of the world in me.
³Let the light of the world shine through this appearance. V
⁴This shadow will vanish before the light. VI
4. W-62. “Forgiveness is my function because I am the light of the world.”VII
5. As I accept my function, I will see the light in me. VIII
²And in that light my function will appear clear and perfectly unambiguous before my sight.
³I do not yet need to understand what my function is in order to accept it, for I do not yet know what forgiveness is. IX
⁴But I trust that in the light I will see what it is. X
6. Specific phrases for using this idea could be:
²Let this help me learn what forgiveness means. XI
³Let me not separate my function from my Will. XII
⁴Let me not divert this toward a purpose that is not my function.XIII
I I—my true Self—am the light that dispels the shadows of a darkened world made of absences of light, of absences of love.
II In my quiet holiness, the stories I tell myself about the “reality” of the world come to an end.
III Without my own descriptions—without my inner dialogue—conflicts simply disappear.
IV And I remember and am the Self that I am.
V I ask that the light behind that form be shown to me.
VI The form disappears, and what lies beyond the form is revealed to me: the Love of God underlying all appearances.
VII I will not be deceived by the sinister descriptions the voice of the ego places in my mind; I will forgive them all.
VIII I cannot see my own light because I am the emitter of light, but I will see the effects of my light, for the shadows I see around me will fade away.
IX The proof that I still do not understand what forgiveness is lies in the fact that I still see a world; I have not yet forgiven it.
X By forgiving I will understand what forgiveness is, for I will see the effects of my forgiveness as it illumines the world with the light of my forgiveness. Forgiving will allow me to see the world transformed by my light.
XI This is an opportunity to exercise my forgiveness and to understand that to forgive means to be freed from painful interpretations.
I will turn this situation of conflict into an opportunity to learn to free myself from suffering. Each time I forgive, I take one more step along the path to the Peace of God, which I deserve.
I will not waste this opportunity. I will learn this Lesson for my own benefit.
I was born to be happy, and forgiveness is the way to achieve it.
XII My function and my will are the same. I only want to forgive.
XIII I will allow myself to see in this nothing but an opportunity to practice my function and forgive.