Light and joy and peace abide in me.
1. You think you are the home of evil, darkness, and sin.
²You believe that if anyone could see the truth about you, they would recoil in horror, as if from a poisonous snake.
³You believe that if the truth about you were revealed, a terror so intense would seize your heart that you would rush to death by your own hand, unable to bear to live after seeing such a thing. I
2. These beliefs are so firmly fixed in your mind that it is difficult to help you see they are based on nothing. II
²That you have made mistakes is obvious.
³And, given what you now believe about yourself, it is also true that you have sought salvation in strange ways;
⁴That you have been deceived, and have deceived;
⁵That you have been afraid of foolish fantasies and savage dreams,
⁶And have bowed down to idols made of dust.
3. Today we question all of this, not from your point of view, but from a very different one, one that makes such silly beliefs quite meaningless.
2These thoughts do not agree with the Will of God.
3He does not share these strange ideas with you.
4This alone is proof enough that they are wrong.
5But you do not see it so.
4. How joyful is it to know that you are not what you think you are.
²That all the evil you believed you did was never done.
³That all your “sins” are nothing.
⁴That you are as pure and holy as you were created.
⁵That light and joy and peace abide in you.
⁶You think God’s Will is death, but it is life.
⁷You think you are being destroyed, but you are being saved.
5. The self you made is not the Son of God.
²Therefore, it does not exist at all.
³And anything it seems to do or think means nothing.
⁴It is neither good nor bad.
⁵It is unreal, and nothing more than that.
⁶It does not fight against the Son of God.
⁷It does not hurt him or attack his peace.
⁸It has not changed creation, nor reduced eternal sinlessness to sin, and love to hate.
⁹What power can this self you made possess, when it would contradict the Will of God?
6. Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
²This needs to be repeated often, until it is accepted.
³It is the truth.
⁴God Himself guarantees your sinlessness.
⁵Nothing can touch it or change what God created eternal.
⁶The self you made, evil and full of sin, is meaningless.
⁷Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light and joy and peace abide in you.
7. Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought—
²You are as God created you, not what you made of yourself.
³Whatever evil you may think you did, you are as God created you.
⁴Whatever mistakes you made, the truth about you has not changed.
⁵Creation is eternal and unalterable.
⁶Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
⁷You are, and always will be, exactly as you were created.
⁸Light and joy and peace abide in you because God put them there.
8. In our longer sessions today, which would be most beneficial if practiced during the first five minutes of every hour, we will begin by affirming the truth about our creation:
²Light and joy and peace abide in me.
³My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
⁴Then lay aside the foolish images you hold of yourself, and spend the rest of the practice period trying to experience what God has given you in place of what you have made.
9. You can only be either what God created or what you made.
²One Self is true; the other is not there.
³Try to experience the unity of your One Self.
⁴Try to appreciate Its holiness and the Love from which It was created.
⁵Try not to interfere with the Self which God created as what you are, by hiding Its majesty behind the tiny idols of evil and sin you made to replace It.
⁶Let It be Itself.
⁷Here you are.
8This is you.
9And light and joy and peace abide in you because that is so.
10. You may not be willing or able to devote the first five minutes of every hour to the exercises today.
²Try, however, to do so when you can.
³At the very least, remember to repeat these thoughts each hour:
⁴Light and joy and peace abide in me.
⁵My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
⁶Then close your eyes for a moment and realize that this is a statement of the truth about you.
11. If any situation arises that seems to disturb you, quickly dispel the illusion of fear by repeating these thoughts again.
²And should you be tempted to become angry with someone, tell them silently:
³Light and joy and peace abide in you.
⁴Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.
12. Today you can do much for the world’s salvation.
²You can do much today to bring yourself closer to accepting the role God has given you in salvation.
³And you can do much today to convince your mind of the truth of today’s idea. III
I It is quite possible that this statement may seem somewhat exaggerated to you. Perhaps you think that, although you are not perfect, you are, deep down, a good person—that you do not seem to yourself as bad as it paints you there.
Open your mind to the possibility that, rather, that is the idea of yourself that allows you to keep going—the one that makes you still trust your own judgment, that allows you to get up in the morning to attend to your tasks and to relate to other people who are more or less like you, the one responsible for your judging others and everything from a position of a certain superiority.
Have you ever wondered why the idea of opening your mind completely to others repulses you so much? Not to mention your heart. Have you ever wondered why you fear heights, darkness, or death?
Why do you think there is so much evil and suffering in the world? Why are you terrified by pain, loss, and loneliness? Why does your heart shrink when someone does not love you? Why do you sometimes feel a murderous rage over a small offense?
Just as you think the world is a dangerous place with areas you would never dare to go, your mind too is full of deep shadows you prefer not to visit.
Where have you known all the evil you have believed you saw in the world? Where have you experienced all the pain and fear you have ever felt? Has it not been in your mind? And what is your mind, if not yourself?
If all the horror you have witnessed—and all that you are capable of imagining—has been or is in your mind, and if your mind is you, then it is evident that you have quite a problem.
Moreover, if you are cause, effect, or condition of so much evil, it is rather unlikely that the solution to such abomination is also within you—at least not as you have been managing it until now.
It would seem most prudent to seek it elsewhere, or by some other method. Could that be possible?
II Last night I had a terrible dream. The very embodiment of horror was pursuing me, and I ran absolutely terrified, trying to escape, until a moment came when it caught me, cornered me, and I could no longer flee. The horror hurled itself upon me, and in a desperate effort to free myself, I turned quickly—and fell out of bed.
I do not think I have ever been so happy, despite the pain I caused myself. Then I climbed back into bed, but I could no longer sleep. I began to think about how ridiculous the whole situation was, and then I asked myself, “What if all that I call ‘my personal life’ were nothing but a dream—a dream from which, for some reason, I cannot awaken?” After all, that is what dreams are: something that seems very real and from which you cannot awaken, for if you awaken, it is no longer a dream.
On closer inspection, the question itself makes little sense, for if it truly is a dream, and if while dreaming you cannot—or will not—wake up, what can you do?
Since I was wide awake and could not fall asleep again, I began to reflect on what I would say to my other self who was immersed in that terrible nightmare—to that very self from a short while before whom I still remembered with chills.
I thought long about the matter, and in the end I arrived at two possible strategies.
The first, what seemed essential to me, was to whisper to that frightened character not to worry—that it is all a dream—and that all he needs to do to escape that dire situation is to wake up. That is obvious.
As I thought about this, imagining how to whisper it to my other self, I realized that it was not as simple as it seems.
What if my other self becomes frightened by that whispering voice? What if, instead of helping, what I am doing is driving him into a deeper panic? Perhaps now he thinks that, in addition to the horror chasing him, there is some strange being from another dimension trying to confuse him with dark intent.
Or worse, perhaps my poor sleeping self thinks he is going mad. It certainly is not an easy situation to resolve.
Besides, waking up is easier said than done. How does one wake up? I do not recall ever having done anything to wake myself up. It is something that simply happens.
The second thing I thought, if that waking up did not work, was to advise my frightened self at least to handle the situation well—to understand that all the evil threatening him is not real, that it is only the product of his imagination, and that if he wishes, he can control it.
I would tell him not to worry—that in reality he is lying peacefully in his bed, and that sooner or later he will awaken. That is inevitable.
Because my nightmare was so recent, it was easy for me to foresee my sleeping self’s reactions to my comments from outside the dream, and after much consideration, I could think of little else to say to him.
Finally, I lost patience and blurted out, “You know what? If you can’t wake up, and you can’t or won’t do anything to change that horror, let it catch you—after all, nothing will happen to you. Maybe that way you’ll wake up at last!”
I think I now understand better how difficult Jesus’ work is.
III Dictated on September 24, 1969.