Today’s review covers these ideas: W-79 and W-80
1. W-79. “Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved.”I
2. Let me understand today that every problem is always some form of grievance I want to keep. II
²Let me also understand that the solution is always a miracle I allow to take the place of that grievance. III
³Today I want to remember the simplicity of salvation by applying the lesson that there is only one problem and only one solution.
⁴The problem is a grievance, and the solution is a miracle.
⁵And I welcome the solution as I forgive the grievance and invite the miracle to take its place.
3. These specific applications of the idea may be helpful:
²This presents a problem to me, and I want it to be resolved.
³The miracle behind this grievance will resolve it for me.
⁴The solution to this problem is the miracle the problem hides.
4. W-80. “Let me recognize my problems have been solved.”IV
5. I believe I have problems only because I misunderstand time.
²I think the problem comes first, and that time must pass before it can be resolved.
³I do not see that the problem and the solution arise together.
⁴This is because I have not yet realized that God has placed the solution right beside the problem, so they cannot be separated in time.
⁵The Holy Spirit will teach me this, if I allow Him to.
⁶And then I will understand that it is impossible for me to have a problem that has not already been solved.
6. These expressions of the idea will be helpful for specific applications:
²I do not need to wait for this to be resolved.
³The solution to this problem has already been given me, if I am willing to accept it.
⁴Time cannot separate this problem from its solution.
I In Lesson 79 we learned that the problem is separation. But in truth, that is not exactly the problem, for if separation were real, the problem would be irresolvable. Separation is not real.
The real problem is the desire to be separate from everything—the desire lodged in the mind to encapsulate itself, the desire to construct an identity apart, the desire to be me and nothing else. That is the problem: the desire to place the will in service of an impossible idea—the belief that I am alone.
That inward contraction of the mind upon itself creates a black hole in consciousness, as imaginary as the mind itself—a hole of darkness in which the immense gravitational pull of the ego’s shadowy center prevents the light of love from extending beyond its own limits and turns it toward that pit of nothingness. The ego, enamored of itself, consumes the love of the mind.
The belief in the idea of separation is nothing but an act of selfishness—the basic condition of a depressed mind, anguished by an essential fear that hurls it into the nothingness of the ego: the idea of the separate self. It is the condition of a sick mind incapable of love. The mind abhors the idea it has itself conceived and hates itself for it. Sick, insane, and terrified, it projects its fear and fragmentation into a frightening world, a dream of hardship and punishment.
That is the original sin—the voluntary abandonment of paradise by a confused mind that misinterpreted the idea of freedom and used it to enslave itself under the yoke of a spurious identity. There is only one problem, and moreover, it is an artificial one—a problem that exists only for the mind that believes it does. The mind absorbed in the idea of self cannot free itself, cannot save itself, for the simple reason that it is not itself; it never has been.
There is no such thing as “an individual mind.” What exists is the belief that there can be one—and that malignant conception gives rise to an illusory world that is real only to the mind itself. Such is the nature of black holes.
The rescue of the sick mind must be as imaginary as the idea that sickened it. The black hole collapses when the idea of the personal self weakens enough for the light to dispel it with its radiance. Salvation is not real. Separation never occurred. Salvation is experienced only by the individual mind—which does not exist.
Humility and honesty are the way. Forgiveness and charity are the tools that allow the mind to break the chains that bind it to a perverse idea. The Love of God is the panorama the mind beholds when it lifts its gaze, absorbed no longer in the impossible.
II May I understand today that the real problem is that my will is misdirected, for I have focused it on some form of resentment.
Why would I have that resentment if it were not because I want to have it?
Do you realize it is impossible to be angry unless you want to be?Resentment, anger, fear, and guilt are self-inflicted sufferings, though unrecognized as such.
Guilt is always someone else’s fault; I always find a justification for my distress. But that is not reality—that is my reality.
III To understand this line, and the one before it, look at the effects, for that will allow you to identify the causes.
Notice the similarity between the emotions that arise when harboring resentments and when feeling burdened by a perceived problem.
Can you see that it is the same discomfort? A resentment certainly constitutes a serious problem in the happy flow of your life, and any problem will make you feel resentful toward life.
Problems and resentments are the same.
And in the same way, notice also that a miracle is the solution to a painful situation—and that whenever you solve a problem, you see things differently, which is precisely what a miracle does.
Therefore, whenever you think you have a problem, realize that you are resentful about your interpretation of what you perceive—and that to solve it, you need to see it differently, that is, you need to invoke a miracle.
IV My problems will never be solved. That is impossible. How could a problem that does not exist be solved!? Problems are not resolved; they dissolve.
Nothing you regard as important will ever cease to be a problem for you—but the truth is that nothing is important. Importance is the way the ego relates to its false creations—the “love” it bestows upon its offspring. The mind, having granted importance to the conflicting idea of a personal self, projects that same importance as conflict onto everything it perceives.
Without a sense of importance, there is no problem. That is forgiveness: to stop considering something important—nothing more than that. My problems have already been resolved because nothing is important to me anymore.
To give importance to something is to separate it from all that exists, to single it out as special and value it more highly. Why would I do that? Why would I choose to remain with a tiny fragment of all that exists? What could I possibly do with that trifle? Would it satisfy my longing to have it all? Perhaps for a time the formula works—but soon a new desire, a new illusion, will arise.
The problem and the solution are coetaneous, for both are fruits of my imagination—just like the time and space in which I place them. Granting importance to something should not in itself constitute a problem, unless it is linked to the perverse idea of powerlessness.
First I regard something as separate and single it out; then I regard it as threatening; and finally I consider myself powerless to resolve the situation: thus have I invented a fine problem.
For me to believe that whole story, it is essential that I project it outward and completely disown all my considerations. It wasn’t me! Don’t blame me for what appears in my mind!
Apparently, important things are like strange mushrooms sprouting of their own accord from dung in the dark vaults of my self-absorbed mind.
Let there be light! And the problems will vanish inevitably.