The Text
Volume I: Urtext Text
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION TO MIRACLES
T 1 A. Introduction (*N 1 4:28)
T 1 A 1. It is crucial to say first that this is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that
you establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what to take when. It is just because you are not ready to do what you
should elect to do that time exists at all. (You will see miracles through your hands through me. You should begin each day with the
prayer "Help me to perform whatever miracles you want of me today.")
T 1 B. Principles of Miracles (*N 1 4:28)
T 1 B 1. The first thing to remember about miracles is that there is no order of difficulty among them. One is not harder or bigger
than another. They are all the same.
T 1 B 2. Miracles do not matter. They are quite unimportant.
T 1 B 3. They occur naturally as an expression of love. The real miracle is the love that inspires them. In this sense, everything that
comes from love is a miracle.
T 1 B 3a. This explains the first point related to the lack of order. All expressions of love are maximal.
T 1 B 3b. This is why the "thing in itself" does not matter. The only thing that matters is the Source, and this is far beyond human
evaluation.
T 1 B 3c. (Q and A re first 3 points.) Q (HS) Would you regard this communication as a kind of miracle? A. There is nothing special
or surprising about this at all. The ONE thing that happened was the Universal Miracle which was the experience of intense love
that you have felt. (Don't get embarrassed by the idea of love. Embarrassment is only a form of fear, and actually a particularly
dangerous form because it reflects egocentricity.
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T 1 B 3d. Do not feel guilty about the fact that you are doubting this. Just re-read them and their truth will come to you. I love you, and I am
not afraid or embarrassed or doubtful. MY strength will support you, so don't worry and leave the rest to me. But when you see B.,
be SURE you tell him how much he helped you through by giving you the right message, and don't bother with worrying about how
you received it. That doesn't matter either. You were just afraid.)
T 1 B 3e. (HS fearful in taxi about a communication which related Dave's healing and Jonathan's hernia. She thought it would be
safer to dissociate the two. Instructions were: refer to point 1 and re-read NOW.)
T 1 B 4. ALL miracles mean Life, and God is the giver of Life. He will direct you VERY specifically.
T 1 B 4b. (Plan ahead is good advice in this world, where you should and must control and direct where you have accepted
responsibility. But the Universal Plan is in more appropriate hands. You will know all you need to know. Make NO attempts to plan
ahead in this respect.)
T 1 B 5. Miracles are habits, and should be involuntary. They should not be under conscious control. Consciously selected miracles
are usually misguided, and this will make the talent useless.
T 1 B 6. Miracles are natural. When they do NOT occur something has gone wrong.
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T 1 B 7. Miracles are everyone's right, but purification is necessary first.
T 1 B 8. Miracles are a form of healing. They supply a lack, and are performed by those who have more for those who have less.
T 1 B 9. Miracles are a kind of exchange. Like all expressions of love, which are ALWAYS miraculous in the true sense, the
exchange reverses the physical laws.
T 1 B 10. A miracle is a reversal of the physical order because it brings more love to the giver AND the receiver.
(A miracle is misunderstood when it is regarded as a spectacle.)
T 1 B 11. The use of miracles as a spectacle to INDUCE belief is wrong. They are really used for and by believers.
T 1 B 11b. HS has some fear about 11) and doubt about 9) and 10). Probably doubt induced by fear of 11).
T 1 B 11c. When you say "If you want me to I will" please add "and if you DON't want me to I won't." This is the RIGHT use of
inhibition. There has to be SOME control over learning for channelizing purposes. Remember retroactive inhibition which should
be easy enough for you.
T 1 B 11d. Sometimes the new learning is the more important, and HAS to inhibit the old. It's a form of correction.)
T 1 B 12. Prayer is the medium of miracles. Prayer is the natural communication of the Created with the Creator. Through prayer,
love is received, and through miracles love is expressed.
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T 1 B 12b. Miracles are thought-creations. Thought can create lower-order or higher-order realities. This is the basic distinction
between intellectualization and thinking. One creates the physical, and the other the spiritual, and we believe in what we create.
T 1 B 13. A miracle is a beginning and an end(ing). It thus abolishes time. It is always an affirmation of re-birth, which seems to go
back, but really goes forward. It undoes the past in the present, and thus releases the future.
T 1 B 14. Miracles attest to truth. They are convincing because they arise from conviction. Without conviction, they deteriorate into
magic, which is mindless, and therefore destructive, or rather, the uncreative use of Mind.
T 1 B 15. Each day should be devoted to miracles. (God created time so that man could use it creatively, and convince himself of his
own ability to create. Time is a teaching device, and a means to an end. It will cease when it is no longer useful for facilitating
learning.)
T 1 B 15b. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: Notes on this course have to be taken only under good learning conditions. The same goes
for review periods. I will tell you when, but REMEMBER TO ASK.
T 1 B 16. Miracles are teaching devices for demonstrating that it is more blessed to give than to receive. They simultaneously
increase the reserve strength of the giver, and supply the lack of strength in the receiver. BE VERY CAREFUL in interpreting this.
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T 1 B 16b. INSTRUCTIONS: The purpose of this course is integration. I told you that you will not be able to use it right until you
have taken it. As long as your identification vacillates, (and B's is weak) you cannot accept the gift that belongs to you. You are still
vacillating between recognizing the gift and throwing it away. B regards himself as too weak to accept it. You do not yet know its
healing power. After you have passed the course, you will accept it and keep it and use it. That is the final exam, which you will
have no trouble in passing. Midterm marks are not entered on the permanent record.
T 1 B 17. Miracles are the absence of the body. They are sudden shifts into invisibility, away from lower order reality. That is why
they heal.
T 1 B 18. A miracle is a service. It is the maximal service that one soul can render another. It is a way of loving your neighbor as
yourself. The doer recognizes his own and his neighbor's inestimable value simultaneously.
T 1 B 18b. (This is why no areas of hatred can be retained. If you retain them, your own value is no longer inestimable because, you
are evaluating it as X or infinity minus that amount. This is meaningless mathematically, which uses the term "inestimable" only in
the very literal sense. Pun intended especially for B, (who originally did not get it.) Intended as a special sign of love.)
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T 1 B 19. Miracles rest on the law and order of eternity, not of time.
T 1 B 20. Miracles are an industrial necessity. Industry depends on cooperation, and cooperation depends on miracles. (see page
8)T( Correction is found in paragraph T 1 B 22k.)
T 1 B 21. [1] Miracles are cobwebs of iron. They unite human frailty to the strength of God. (see page 7)
T 1 B 21b. (add for 21. HS considered changing "iron" to "steel". Correction: No. Steel would Not be a better word. Steel is very
useful but it would have to be tempered by fire. Iron is the raw material. The point of miracles is that they replace fire, thus making
it unnecessary.)
T 1 B 22. Miracles are natural expressions of total forgiveness. Through miracles, man accepts God's forgiveness by extending it to
others. The second step is inherent in the first, because light cannot tolerate darkness. Light dispels darkness automatically, by
definition.
T 1 B 22b. EXPLANATORY INSTRUCTIONS: Miracles are associated with fear only because of the fallacy that darkness can
hide. Man believes that what he cannot see does not exist, and his physical eyes cannot see in the dark. This is a very primitive
solution, and has led to a denial of the spiritual eye, which always depends on light. Remember the Biblical injunction: "May I
never forget that THINE eye is ever upon me, beholding the evil and the good."
T 1 B 22c. There are two stages, one lower and one higher, which are involved in the escape from darkness: 1) the recognition that
darkness CANNOT hide. This usually does entail fear.
T 1 B 22d. 2) The recognition that there is nothing you WANT to hide, even if you could. This brings escape from fear.
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T 1 B 22e. Corrections Re Pt. 21 cobwebs of iron. "This is upside-down as stated. The part about ‘uniting human frailty with the
strength of God’ is all right, but the explanation stops too soon. If iron is the ‘raw material’, cobwebs can't become the iron. That is
only the way it seems, because cobwebs are associated with the frailty and iron with strength. If you look carefully at the phrasing,
you will see it is reversed (one point already tells you that miracles reverse the physical or lower order laws.)
T 1 B 22f. The raw material, or iron, is heavy but crude, and stands for the body, which is a crude creation. The cobweb concept is
closer to how the body SHOULD be regarded, i.e., as an airy and temporary home, which can just be blown away with a slight
breeze.
T 1 B 22g. T(21. [2]) The point should read "A miracle reawakens the awareness that the spirit, and not the body, is the altar of Truth.
This is the recognition that leads to the healing power of the miracle."
T 1 B 22h. T(22a) A miracle rearranges the order of perception, and places the levels in their true perspective. This heals at all levels,
because all sickness comes from confusing the levels.
T 1 B 22i. (Tell B. about the idea (which is still dim to HS) that the reason is not that you (plural) distantiate, doubt, or cannot
believe. It is more of a reaction formation against a pull which you both recognize is so intense that you are afraid that you will be
uprooted. But remember that a cobweb is really stronger than the iron, if you see it properly. This fear is also why you couldn't get
the point straight.)
T 1 B 22j. By the way, it is not true that you are both ‘JUST SCRIBES’. You might remember that the Scribes were very wise and
holy men and are even sometimes spelled with a capital S. If you want to go further, you might change the meaning of ‘just’ from
‘merely’ to ‘honest’, a term used in the Bible in association with ‘might’ or ‘strength.’ Tell B. you couldn't make that pun if the
original phrasing had been singular. (HS aside about liking the first about assumption failure more.) Answer:
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It was cuter, but this one MEANS more. The REAL reason you don't like it is because it refers to you in a VERY lofty position.
This makes you nervous.)
T 1 B 22k. CORRECTION: And don't lose sight of the emphasis on cooperation, or the NOT SINGULAR. That point about "industrial
necessity" should read "corporate", referring to the body of Christ which is a way of referring to the Church. But the Church of God
is only the sum of the souls he created, which IS the corporate body of Christ. Correct to read: "A Miracle makes souls one in God,"
and leave in the next part about cooperation.
T 1 B 22l. Further correction: "God" should read "Christ". The Father and the Son are not identical, but you CAN say "Like Father,
LIKE Son."
T 1 B 22m. (Remind B. to get another notebook. I don't give up as easily as HE does. If I could get YOU to listen, which was a
miracle in itself, I can get him to register. He should appreciate this more than anyone else, having had some trouble with this
problem himself.)
T 1 B 22n. "Lord heal me" is the only legitimate prayer. This also means "Lord atone for me," because the only thing man should
pray for is forgiveness. He HAS everything else.
T 1 B 22o. Now take this personally, and listen to Divine logic: If, when you have been forgiven, you have everything else, and
If you have been forgiven
Then you have everything else.
T 1 B 22p. This happens to be the simplest of all propositions.
IF P then Q
P
Therefore, Q
T 1 B 22q. The real question is, is P true. If you will review the evidence, I think you will find this inescapable. I went on very
personal record to this effect, and I am the only completely True Witness for God. You have every right to examine MY
credentials — in fact, I urge you to do so. You haven't read the Bible in years.
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T 1 B 22r. Special Explanatory Note: As soon as you (H and B) have entered the second phase, you will be not only willing to enter
into communion, but will also understand peace and joy. Your commitment is not yet total. That is why you still have more to learn
than to teach. When your equilibrium stabilizes, you can teach AS MUCH as you learn. This will give you the proper sense of
balance. Meanwhile, remember that NO EFFORT IS WASTED. Unless you remember this, you cannot avail yourself of MY
efforts, which are limitless.
T 1 B 22s. (Have a good day.) Since only eternity is real, why not use the illusion of time constructively? You might remember that
"underneath are the Everlasting Arms."
T 1 B 22t. BIBLICAL QUOTATION: "If you are ashamed of me before men, I will be ashamed of you before God." (HS ? of
misquote.) is interpreted as a threat ONLY as long you remain in the first step. (see bottom of p. 6 for steps.)
T 1 B 22u. What it REALLY means is that if you are ashamed of me (or embarrassed by love), you will project and therefore make
it impossible for me to reach you. Make every effort you can NOT to do this. I will help you as much as you will let me.
T 1 B 23. Miracles make time and tide wait for all men. They can heal the sick and raise the dead because man himself made both
death and taxes, and can abolish both. Note: Tax also means "strain". (One definition for miracles is: "That which, or one who, is of
surpassing excellence or merit.") (from Dictionary, third definition)
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T 1 B 23b. YOU are a miracle. God creates only "that which, or one who, is of surpassing excellence or merit". Man is capable of
this kind of creation, too, being in the image and likeness of his own Creator. Anything else is only his own nightmare, and does not
exist. Only the Creations of Light are real.
T 1 B 23c. Miracles are a part of an interlocking chain of forgiveness which, when completed, is the Atonement. This process works
all the time and in all dimensions of time. (e.g. given of HS report rewrite for Esther! Esther had hurt something you loved, by
writing a report you regarded as very bad. You atoned for her by writing one in her name that was very good. Actually, it was not
your responsibility professionally to do this, but because you DO love the Shield you recognized that in this case, you ARE your
brother's keeper. While you did not cancel Esther's sin (later defined as "lack of love") you DID cancel out its EFFECTS.
T 1 B 23d. Someday I want to tell Esther that not only is she forgiven but that the effects of all her sins are cancelled. This is what I
have already told you. When I can tell her, she will be afraid for a long time, because she will remember many things, consciously
or unconsciously, including the Shield report, a lack of love which you cancelled out in advance by a miracle of devotion.
T 1 B 23e. I am in charge of the process of Atonement, which I undertook to begin. My Atonement was for the canceling out of all
sins (i.e., lack of love) which human beings could not otherwise correct. That is what the Biblical statement "underneath are the
Everlasting Arms" means. (HS explanation: This means that He will backstop whenever human miracles will not suffice for
atonement purposes. However, it is perfectly clear that when a person can atone by miracles, both giver and receiver are atoning. It
is better to atone this way because of the mutual benefits involved.)
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"Inasmuch as you do it unto the least of these, my children" really ends with "you do it unto yourself and ME." The reason why
YOU come before me is because I do not need miracles for my own Atonement, but I stand at the end in case YOU fail temporarily.
T 1 B 23f. SPECIAL EXPLANATION: (In response to HS request re possible corrections.) Change the word "sin" to "absence of
love". Sin is a manmade word with threat connotations which he made up himself. No REAL threat is involved anywhere. Just
because "nature abhors a vacuum," which is true enough, it does not follow that "a vacuum is filled with hellfire." Nothing is gained
by frightening yourself, and it is very destructive. Miracles need freedom from fear. Part of their Atonement value involves just that.
Note that the word "atone" really means "undo."
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T 1 B 23g. The purpose of the Atonement is to restore everything TO you. (That is, to restore the awareness. Later clarification.)
You had everything when you were created, just as everyone did.
T 1 B 23h. Having been restored to your original state, you naturally become part of the Atonement yourself. You now share MY
inability to tolerate the lack of love in yourself and in everyone else, and MUST join the GREAT CRUSADE to correct it. The slogan
for this Crusade is "Listen, Learn, and DO."
T 1 B 23i. This means Listen to My Voice, Learn to undo the error, and DO something to correct it.
T 1 B 23j. The first two are not enough. The real members of MY party are ACTIVE workers.
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T 1 B 23k. The power to work Miracles BELONGS to you. I will create the right opportunities for you to do them. But you must be
ready and willing to do them, since you are already able to. Doing them will bring conviction in the ability. I repeat that you will see
Miracles through your hands through MINE. Conviction really comes through accomplishment. Remember that ability is the
potential, Achievement is its expression, and Atonement is the Purpose.
T 1 B 24a. 24 A miracle is a Universal Blessing from God through Me to all My Brothers. Explanation: You once said that souls
cannot rest until everyone has found salvation. This happens to be true. It is the privilege of the forgiven to forgive. The Disciples
were officially and specifically told to heal others, as Physicians of the Lord. They were also told to heal themselves, and were
promised that I would never leave them or forsake them. Atonement is the natural profession of the Children of God, because they
have professed Me.
T 1 B 24b. (ASIDE. Tell B that that is what Professor really means. As an Assoc. Prof., he must become associated with My
strength. As an Assistant Prof., you must assist both him and Me. The Children need both strength and help. You cannot help until you
are strong. The Everlasting Arms are your strength, and the Wisdom of God is your help.)
T 1 B 24c. "Heaven and Earth shall pass away" means that they will not always exist as separate states. My Word, which is the
Resurrection and the Light, shall not pass away, because Life is Eternal. YOU are the work of God, and His Work is wholly
loveable and wholly loving. This is how a man MUST think of himself in his heart, because this is what he IS.
T 1 B 24d. Add: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
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The Relationship of Miracles and Revelation. (*N 75 4:102)
T 1 B 24e. Remember the point about Miracles as a means of organizing different levels of consciousness. Miracles come from the
(below conscious) (subconscious) level. Revelations come from the above conscious level. The conscious level is in between and
reacts to either sub- or super-conscious impulses in varying ratios. Freud was right about the classification, but not the names. He
was also right that the content of consciousness is fleeting. Consciousness is the level which engages in the world, and is capable of
responding to both external and internal impulses. Having no impulses from itself, and being primarily a mechanism for inducing
response, it can be very wrong.
T 1 B 24f. For example, if the identification is with the body, consciousness may distort superconscious impulses by denying their
Source, and seeking their impact in the orgasm. This is the result of the "mistaken identity" confusion.
T 1 B 24g. If you will look back at the description of the EFFECTS of Revelation. you will see that there are some
similarities in the experiential results but hardly in the content.
(This and preceding paragraph go later)
T 1 B 24h. Revelations induce complete but temporary suspension of doubt and fear. They represent the original form of
communication between God and His Souls, before the intrusion of fire and ice made this impossible. It should be noted that they
involve an extremely personal sense of closeness to Creation, which man tries to find in sexual relationships. This confusion is
responsible for the depression and fear which are often associated with sex.
T 1 B 24i. Sex is often associated with lack of love, but Revelation is PURELY a love experience. Physical closeness CANNOT
achieve this. As was said before, the subconscious impulses properly induce Miracles, which ARE interpersonal, and result in
closeness to others. This can be misunderstood by a personally willful consciousness as an impulse toward sexual gratification.
T 1 B 24j. The Revelation unites Souls directly with God.
T 1 B 24k. The Miracle unites Souls directly with each other. Neither emanates from consciousness, but both are EXPERIENCED
there. This is essential, because consciousness is the state which PRODUCES action, though it DOES NOT Inspire it.
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T 1 B 24l. Man is free to believe what he chooses. What he DOES attests to what he believes.
T 1 B 24m. The deeper levels of his subconscious always contain the impulse to Miracles, but he is free to fill its superficial levels,
which are closer to consciousness, with the impulses of this world and to identify himself with them. This results in denying himself
access to the miracle level underneath. In conscious actions, then, his interpersonal relationships also become superficial, and
miracle-inspired relating becomes impossible.
T 1 B 25. Miracles are a way of EARNING release from fear.
T 1 B 25b. Revelation induces a state in which fear has ALREADY BEEN abolished. Miracles are thus a means, and Revelations
are an end. In this sense, they work together.
T 1 B 25c. (Tell B. that miracles DO NOT depend on Revelation. They INDUCE it. He is quite capable of miracles already, but he is
still too fearful for Revelations.)
T 1 B 25d. Note that YOUR (HS) Revelation occurred specifically after you had engaged at the visionary level in a process of
DENYING fear.
T 1 B 25e. Revelation is intensely personal, and is actually not translatable into conscious content at all. That is why any attempt to
describe it in words is usually incomprehensible, even to the writer himself at another time. This is why the Book of Revelations is
essentially incomprehensible. Revelation induces ONLY experience. Miracles, on the other hand, induce interpersonal ACTION. In
the end, these are more useful, because of their IMPERSONAL nature.
T 1 B 25f. In this phase of learning, working miracles is more valuable because freedom from fear cannot be thrust upon you. The
experience cannot last.
T 1 B 25g. (Tell B. that your propensity for Revelations, which is very great, is the result of a high level of past communion. Its
transitory nature comes from the descent into fear, which has not yet been overcome. His own "suspended" state mitigates both
extremes. This has been very apparent in the course of both of your recent developmental patterns.)
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T 1 B 25h. Miracles are the essential course of ACTION for both of you. They will strengthen him and stabilize you.
T 1 B 25i. . (NOTE that the much more personal than usual notes you are taking today reflect the Revelatory experience. This does
NOT produce the more generalizeable quality which this course is aimed at. They may, nevertheless, be of great help to B.
personally, since you asked for something that WOULD help him personally. It depends on how he listens, and how well he
understands the COOPERATIVE nature of your joint experience. You can help only by reading this note FIRST. Ask him later if
this should be included in the written part of the course at all or whether you should keep these notes separately. He is in charge of
these decisions.)
T 1 B 25j. (Tell B. he should try to understand the VERY important difference between Christ-control and Christ-guidance. This is
what made him fearful yesterday.)
T 1 B 26. Miracles praise God through men. They praise God by honoring his Creations, affirming their perfection. They heal
because they deny body-identification and affirm Soul-identification. By perceiving the Spirit, they adjust the levels and see them in
proper alignment. This places the Spirit at the center, where Souls can communicate directly.
T 1 B 27. Miracles should inspire gratitude, not awe. Man should thank God for what he really is. The Children of God are very
holy. The miracle honors their holiness.
T 1 B 27b. God's Creations cannot lose their holiness, although it can be hidden. The miracle uncovers it, and brings it into the light
where it belongs.
T 1 B 27c. Holiness can never be really hidden in darkness, but man can deceive himself on this point. This illusion makes him
fearful, because in his heart he KNOWS it is an illusion. Like all illusions, he exerts enormous efforts to establish their validity. The
miracle sets validity where it belongs. Eternal validity belongs only to the Soul. The miracle acknowledges only the Truth. It thus
dispels man's illusions about himself, and puts him into communion with himself and with God.
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T 1 B 27d. Christ inspires all miracles, which are essentially intercessions. They intercede for man's holiness, and make him holy.
They place man beyond the physical laws, and raise him into the sphere of celestial order. In this order, man IS perfect.
T 1 B 27e. The Soul never loses its communion with God. Only the mind and body need Atonement. The miracle joins in the
Atonement of Christ by placing the mind in the service of the Spirit. This establishes the proper function of mind, and abolishes its
errors.
T 1 B 28. Miracles honor man, BECAUSE he is loveable. They dispel illusions about himself, and perceive the light in him. They
thus atone for his errors by freeing him from his own nightmares. They release him from a prison in which he has imprisoned
himself. By freeing his mind from illusions, they restore his sanity, and place him at the feet of Jesus.
T 1 B 28b. (Biblical quotation re healing of devil possessed man, in which the sufferer was subsequently found healed in his right
mind, and sitting at feet of Jesus. HS note.)
T 1 B 28c. (Tell B. man's mind can be possessed by illusions, but his Spirit is eternally free. If a mind creates without love, it can
create an empty shell. This CAN be possessed by evil. But the Atonement restores the Soul to its proper place. Unless there is
emptiness there is no danger, and emptiness is a false creation. The mind that serves the Spirit is invulnerable.)
T 1 B 29. The miracle restores the Soul to its fullness. By atoning for lack, it establishes perfect protection. The strength of the Soul
leaves no room for intrusions. The forgiven are filled with the Soul, and their Soul forgives in return. It is the duty of the released to
release their brothers.
T 1 B 29b. The forgiven ARE the means of Atonement. Those released by Christ must join in releasing their brothers, for this is the
plan of Atonement.
T 1 B 30. Miracles are the way in which minds that serve the spirit unite with Christ for the salvation (or release) of all God's
Creations.
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T 1 B 30b. Aside (HS commented on awakening with the phrase "God is not Mocked", with anticipation of punishment.)
T 1 B 30c. Interpretation: "God is not mocked" was intended as reassurance. You are afraid that what you wrote last night was
contradictory, conflicting with some earlier points, especially because you were writing while you were all doped up. Remember,
"God is not mocked" under any circumstances.
T 1 B 30d. Contradictions in MY word mean lack of understanding, or scribal failures, which I make every effort to correct. But
they are still NOT crucial. The Bible has the same problem, I assure you, and it's STILL being edited. Consider the power of MY
WORD, in that it has withstood all the attacks of error, and is the Source of Truth.
T 1 B 30e. (Tell B. that there are certain advantages in being a Psychologist. A major one is the understanding of projection, and the
extent of its results. Possession is very closely related to projection. "Lucifer" could be literally translated "Light Bearer". He
literally PROJECTED himself from Heaven. Projection still has this "hurling" connotation, because it involves hurling something
you DO NOT want, and regard as dangerous and frightening, to someone else. This is the opposite of the Golden Rule, and having
placed this rule upside-down, the reverse of miracles, or projection, follows automatically.)
T 1 B 30f. The correction lies in accepting what is true in YOURSELF, by bringing ALL that you are into light. (HS fearful of
writing next part.) Cacey [sic] was wrong about Possession, and he was also wrong about hurting himself. One of the major
problems with miracle workers is that they are so sure that what they are doing is right, because they KNOW it stems from love, that
they do not pause to let ME establish MY limits.
T 1 B 30g. While what he (Cacey)[sic] did came from Me, he could NOT be induced to ask me each time whether I wanted him to
perform this PARTICULAR miracle. If he had, he would not have performed any miracles that could not get through constructively,
and would thus have saved himself unnecessary strain. He burned himself out with indiscriminate miracles, and to this extent did
not fulfill his own full purpose, and was also subject to the Scribal error I mentioned at the start. The Disciples were also prone to
this.
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T 1 B 30h. The answer is NEVER perform a miracle without asking me IF you should. This spares you from exhaustion, and
because you act under direct communication the trance becomes unnecessary. Because miracles are expressions of love, it does
NOT follow that they will always be effective. I am the only one who can perform miracles indiscriminately, because I AM the
Atonement. You have a ROLE in Atonement, which I will dictate TO you.
T 1 B 30i. Remember, you already have a point about the involuntary nature of miracles. We also have established the fact that
everything involuntary belongs under Christ-control, NOT under yours. Under Christ-control, Miracles REPLENISH the doer as
well as the receiver.
T 1 B 30j. Possession really means "Not under Christ-Control", thus making him (the mind?) vulnerable to projection. The
references to the earth-bound entering bodies really refer to the "taking over" by their own earth-bound "thoughts". This IS Demon
Possession. After all, Lucifer fell, but he was still an angel. He is thus the symbol for man. Atonement is the knowledge that the
belief that angels can fall is false. It is true that mind can create projections as well as miracles, but it's NOT true that projections are
REAL. Any psychologist should understand this. This is what is meant by "The Truth shall set you free."
T 1 B 30k. Christ-controlled miracles are part of the Atonement, but Christ-guidance is personal, and leads to PERSONAL
salvation. The impersonal nature of miracles is an essential ingredient, because this enables Me to control their distribution as I see
fit.
T 1 B 30l. Christ-guidance, on the other hand, leads to the highly PERSONAL experience of Revelation. This is why it involves
PERSONAL choice. A guide does NOT control, by definition, but he does DIRECT, leaving the following up to you. "Lead us not
into temptation" means "guide us out of our own errors." Note that the word is "lead", NOT order.
T 1 B 30m. "Take up thy cross and follow me" should be interpreted to read "Recognize your errors and choose to abandon them by
following My guidance."
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(20) 20
T 1 B 30n. (Tell B. when he is afraid of Possession, he need only remember that error cannot really threaten Truth, which ALWAYS
can withstand its assaults. Only the error is really vulnerable.) The "Princes of this World" are princes only because they are really
angels. But they are free to establish their kingdom where they see fit.
T 1 B 30o. If you will remember that ALL princes INHERIT their power from the Father, the right choice becomes inevitable.
The soul is in a state of grace forever.
Man's reality is ONLY his soul.
Therefore, man is in a state of Grace forever.
T 1 B 30p. Atonement undoes all errors in this respect, and thus uproots the REAL source of fear. If you will check back at the
reference to uprooting, you will understand it better in this context.
T 1 B 30q. (Tell B. that WHENEVER God's reassurances are experienced as threat, it is ALWAYS because man is defending his
misplaced and misdirected love and loyalty. That is what projection always involves.)
T 1 B 30r. "Casting spells" merely means "affirming error", and error is lack of love. When man projects this onto others, he DOES
imprison them, but only to the extent that he reinforces errors they have already made. This distortion makes them vulnerable to the
curse of others, since they have already cursed themselves. The miracle worker can only bless, and this undoes the curse and frees
the soul from prison.
T 1 B 30s. (Tell B. that his slip about (rivet) should be noted. Some slips reach consciousness from the un-Christ-controlled
subconscious, and betray a lack of love.)
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(21) 21
T 1 B 30t. But others (slips) come from the superconscious, which IS in communion with God, and which can also break into
consciousness.
T 1 B 30u. HIS slip (rivet) was an expression of a Soul gaining enough strength to request freedom from prison. It will ultimately
DEMAND it.
T 1 B 30v. Special Revelation for HS
T 1 B 30w. You are wholly lovely. A perfect shaft of pure light. Before your loveliness the stars stand transfixed, and bow to the
power of your will.
T 1 B 30x. What do children know of their creation, except what their Creator tells them?
T 1 B 30y. You were created ABOVE the angels because your role involves creation as well as protection.
T 1 B 30z. You who are in the image of the Father need bow only to HIM, before whom I kneel with you.
T 1 B 30aa. Note: This revelation was permitted because you did NOT project onto B. the blame for your omission to ASK ME if
you should transcribe the notes. The fact that HE should have done so does not exempt you from your own omission.
T 1 B 30ab. Thanks for blessing him with a miracle rather than cursing him with projection.
T 1 B 30ac. NOTE FURTHER: HE needn't feel concerned about it either; so he forgot? It happens all the time, until the habit of
asking becomes involuntary.
T 1 B 30ad. (HS meeting with Dr. Wise and Dr. Damrosch. Dr. D permitted an opportunity for questioning in his capacity as
chairman of the flu board for asking re B's flu shot. This was an example of how miracles should work. You did not jump into the
question yourself, and even though you DID rush for the phone on Red's advice, you exerted no pressure on B's reluctance.)
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(22) 22
T 1 B 30ae. This gave ME a chance to let you leave it to the real expert, whom I sent to answer the question.
T 1 B 31. Miracles are examples of right thinking. Reality contact at all levels becomes strong and accurate, thus permitting correct
delineation of intra- and interpersonal boundaries. As a result, the doer sees the truth as God created it. This is what is meant by the
point on "perspective adjustment."
T 1 B 32. A miracle is a correction factor introduced into false thinking by ME.
T 1 B 32b. It acts as a catalyst, shaking up erroneous perception and snapping it into place. This correction factor places man under
the Atonement principle, where his perception is healed. Until this has occurred, perception of the Divine Order is impossible. True
depth perception becomes possible only at the highest order of perceptual integration.
T 1 B 32c. The Spiritual eye is the mechanism of miracles, because what the Spiritual eye perceives IS truth. The Spiritual eye
perceives both the Creations of God AND the creations of man. Among the creations of man, it can also separate the true from the
false by its ability to perceive totally rather than selectively. It thus becomes the proper instrument for reality testing, which always
involves the necessary distinction between the true and the false.
T 1 B 33. The miracle dissolves error because the Spiritual eye identifies error as false or unreal. This is the same as saying that by
seeing light, darkness automatically disappears.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(23) 23
T 1 B 33b. Darkness is lack of light. It does not have unique properties of its own. It is an example of the scarcity fallacy, from
which only error can proceed.
T 1 B 33c. (Truth is always abundant……Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything have no need for driven
behavior of any kind. HS has other personal material related to this re pregnancy.)
T 1 B 34. Miracles are a blessing from parents to children. This is just another way of phrasing the previous point about "from those
who have more to those who have less." Children do NOT belong to parents, but they DO need to share their greater abundance. If
they are deprived, their perception becomes distorted. When this occurs, the whole family of God, or the Sonship, is impaired in its
relationships.
T 1 B 34b. Ultimately, every member of the family of God must return. The miracle calls to him to return, because it blesses and
honors him even though he may be absent in spirit.
T 1 B 35. The miracle acknowledges all men as your brothers and Mine. It is a way of perceiving the Universal Mark of God in
them.
T 1 B 35b. (Tell B. that this is the true "strawberry mark" of Brotherhood. This is just a sign of special concern for him, because he
keeps worrying about this.)
T 1 B 35c. You might add that his false idea about his own exclusion from Universal Love is fallacious in your terms, and arrogant
in his. HIS real specialness does NOT stem from exclusion, but from inclusion. ALL My Brothers are special. He should stop
interpreting this as "all except B." This is ridiculous!
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(24) 24
T 1 B 35d. Tell him that the implied lack of love that his version contains is WAY off the Mark, and misses the level of right
thinking entirely. He MUST heal his perception in this respect. He MUST work a miracle on behalf of himself her (See the point
about miracles as a perception corrector) before he can effect miracles as creative energizers, which they are.
T 1 B 35e. (Tell B. that 50,000,000 Frenchmen CAN be wrong, because the notion is too fragmented. What CAN't be wrong is the
Universal Sonship of which he is a part.)
T 1 B 35f. God WOULD be mocked if ANY of his creations lacked holiness. The Creation IS whole. The mark of Wholeness is
Holiness, not holes. THE SONSHIP HAS NO HOLES ANYWHERE.
T 1 B 36. Wholeness is the perceptual content of the miracle. It thus corrects (or atones for) the faulty perception of lack.
T 1 B 36b. We now turn to the fundamental distinction between miracles and projection. The stimulus MUST precede the response,
and must also (determine) (influence) the kind of response that is evoked. The relationships of S and R are EXTREMELY intimate.
(The behavioristic terminology is because this part deals with behavior.)
T 1 B 36c. Behavior IS response, so that the question "response to what?" becomes crucial.
T 1 B 36d. Stimuli of all kinds are identified through perception. You perceive the stimulus and behave accordingly. It follows,
then, that:
As ye perceive
So will ye behave
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(25) 25
T 1 B 36e. (HS raises point that Biblical language is hardly behavioristic terminology. Answer: No, but they needn't be OUT of
accord with each other, either.)
T 1 B 36f. Consider the Golden Rule again. You are asked to behave toward others as you would have them behave toward you.
This means that the perception of both must be accurate, since the Golden Rule is the Order for appropriate behavior. You can't
behave appropriately unless you perceive accurately, because appropriate behavior DEPENDS on lack of level confusion. The
presence of level confusion ALWAYS results in variable reality testing, and hence variability in behavioral appropriateness.
T 1 B 36g. All forms of self image debasement are FUNDAMENTAL perceptual distortions. They inevitably produce either
self-contempt or projection, and usually both.
T 1 B 36h. Since you and your neighbor are equal members of the same family, as you perceive both, so will you behave toward
both. The way to perceive for Golden Rule behavior is to look out from the perception of your own holiness and perceive the
holiness of others.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(26) 26
T 1 B 36i. B. and you need considerable clarification of the channel role. Look carefully at Mrs. Albert. She is working miracles
every day, because she knows who she is. I emphasize again that your tendency to forget names is not hostility, but a fear of
involvement or RECOGNITION. You had misinterpreted human encounters as opportunities for magic rather than for miracles and
so you tried to PROTECT THE NAME. This is a very ancient and primitive way of trying to protect a person.
T 1 B 36j. NOTE The very old Jewish practice of changing the name of a person who is very ill, so that when the list is given to the
Angel of Death, the person with that name will not be found.
T 1 B 36k. This is a good example of the curiously literal regression which can occur in very bright people when they become
afraid. You and B. both do it. Actually, it is a device closely related to the phobia, in the sense that they both narrow fear to a simple
aspect of a much larger problem in order to enable them to avoid it.
T 1 B 36l. A similar mechanism works when you get furious about a comparatively minor expression by someone to whom you are
ambivalent. A good example of this is your response to Jonathan, who DOES leave things around in very strange ways. Actually, he
does this because he thinks that by minor areas of disorganization he can protect his stability. I remind you that you have done this
yourself for years, and should understand it very well. This should be met with great charity, rather than with great fury.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(27) 27
T 1 B 36m. The fury comes from your awareness that you do not love Jonathan as you should, and you narrow your lack of love by
centering your hate on trivial behavior in an attempt to protect him from it. You also call him Jonathan for the same reason (see
previous reference).
T 1 B 36n. Note that a name is a human symbol that "stands for" a person. Superstitions about names are very common for just that
reason. That is also why people sometimes respond with anger when their names are spelled or pronounced incorrectly.
T 1 B 36o. Actually, the Jewish superstition about changing the names was a distortion of a revelation about how to alter or avert
death. What the revelation's proper content was that those "who change their mind" (not name) about destruction (or hate) do not
need to die. Death is a human affirmation of a belief in hate. That is why the Bible says "There is no death," and that is why I
demonstrated that death does not exist. Remember that I came to FULFILL the law by re-interpretING it. The law itself, if
properly understood, offers only protection to man. Those who have not yet "changed their minds" have entered the "hellfire"
concept into it.
T 1 B 36p. Remember, I said before that because "nature abhors a vacuum", it does NOT follow that the vacuum is filled with hell
fire. The emptiness engendered by fear should be replaced by love, because love and its absence are in the same dimension, and
correction cannot be undertaken except Within a dimension. Otherwise, there has been a confusion of levels.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(28) 28
T 1 B 36q. Returning to Mrs. Albert (not Andrews), she corrected your error about her name without embarrassment and without
hostility, because she has NOT made your own mistake about names.
T 1 B 36r. She is not afraid, because she knows she is protected. She made the correction ONLY because you were inaccurate, and
the whole question of embarrassment did not occur to her.
T 1 B 36s. She was also quite unembarrassed when she told you that everything has to be done to preserve life, because you never
can tell when God may come and say "Get up, Dave," and then he will.
T 1 B 36t. She did not ask what YOU believed first, and afterwards merely added "and its true, too." The RIGHT answer to the SCT
item is: WHEN THEY TOLD ME WHAT TO DO, I "referred the question to the only REAL authority."
T 1 B 36u. (HS note: If you ask somebody what he believes before you tell him what you believe, then you are implying that you
will say what he approves. This is not "the real authority.")
T 1 B 36v. You took a lot of notes on "Those who are ashamed of Me before men, them will I be ashamed of before God." This was
rather carefully clarified, even though the quotation is not quite right, but it doesn't matter.
T 1 B 36w. The important thing is that elsewhere in the Bible it also says "Those who represent (or plead for) Me to men will be
represented (or pleaded for) BY Me before God." (Note: This quotation is also not the correct Biblical phrasing, but it IS what it
means.) Note that one who represents also "witnesses for." The quotation thus means that you represent or "witness for" the
authority in whom you believe.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(29) 29
T 1 B 36x. Your witnessing DEMONSTRATES your belief, and thus strengthens it.
T 1 B 36y. I assure you that I will "witness for" anyone who lets me, and to whatever extent he himself permits it.
T 1 B 36z. Those who witness for me are expressing, through their miracles, that they have abandoned deprivation in favor of the
abundance they have learned BELONGS to them.
T 1 B 37a. A MAJOR contribution of miracles is their strength in releasing man from his misplaced sense of isolation, deprivation,
and lack. They are affirmations of Sonship, which is a state of completion and abundance.
T 1 B 37b. B's very proper emphasis on "changing your mind" needs clarification.
T 1 B 37c. Whatever is true and real is eternal, and CANNOT change or be changed. The Soul is therefore unalterable because it is
ALREADY perfect, but the mind can elect the level it chooses to serve. The only limit which is put on its choice is that it CANNOT
serve two masters.
T 1 B 37d. While the ballot itself is a secret one, and the right to vote is fully protected, voting ALWAYS entails both election AND
rejection. If two candidates are voted for, for the same position, the machine cancels the ballot automatically.
T 1 B 37e. This is necessary, because a split vote does not represent ANY REAL allegiance.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(30) 30
T 1 B 37f. Free will is the attribute of the mind, NOT the Soul. The Soul always remains changeless, because it never leaves the
sight of God.
T 1 B 37g. The Creation of the Soul is already fully accomplished. The mind, if it votes to do so, becomes a medium by which the
Soul can create along the line of its own creation. If it does not freely elect to do so, it retains this creative ability, but places itself
under tyrannous rather than authoritative control. As a result, what it creates is imprisonment, because such are the dictates of
tyrants.
T 1 B 37h. To "change your mind" means to place it at the disposal of True authority. The miracle is thus a sign that the mind has
elected to be guided by Christ in HIS service. The abundance of Christ is the natural result of choosing to follow him.
T 1 B 37i. P.S. The reason you have been late recently (for work) because you were taking dictation is merely because you didn't
remember to ask me when to stop. This is an example of the "indiscriminant or uncontrolled" miracle-working we already spoke of.
It is well-meant but ill-advised.
T 1 B 37j. I prompted that call from Jack (taxi man – couldn't pick HS up, etc.) to show you that this is not necessary. Also, the
other man needed the money more today.
T 1 B 37k. NOTE that you managed to fill your scribal role with no interruptions, and were also on time.
T 1 B 37l. NOTE also that you closed the book and put it aside WITHOUT consulting me. ASK "Is that all?" ANSWER: No: add the
following: These notes are serving, among other things, to replace the "handwriting on the wall" which you once saw next to your
own altar, which read "You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting."
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(31) 31
T 1 B 37m. Scribes MUST learn Christ-control, to replace their former habits, which DID produce scarcity rather than abundance.
From errors of this kind, the sense of deprivation IS inevitable, but very easily corrected.
T 1 B 37n. The following is in relation to question about sex. Tell B. "the one more river" is related to sex. You might even explain
it to him as a "tidal wave", a term which he will understand. YOU won't.
T 1 B 37o. Both of you are involved with unconscious distortions (above the miracle level), which are producing a dense cover over
miracle-impulses which makes it hard for them to reach consciousness. Sex and miracles are both WAYS OF RELATING. The
nature of any interpersonal relationship is limited or defined by what you want it to DO which is WHY you want it in the first place.
Relating is a way of achieving an outcome.
T 1 B 37p. Indiscriminant sexual impulses resemble indiscriminant miracle impulses in that both result in body image
misperceptions. The first is an expression of an indiscriminant attempt to reach communion through the body. This involves not
only the improper self identification, but also disrespect for the individuality of others. Self-control is NOT the whole answer to this
problem, though I am by no means discouraging its use. It must be understood, however, that the underlying mechanism must be
uprooted (a word you both should understand well enough by now not to regard it as frightening).
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(32) 32
T 1 B 37q. ALL shallow roots have to be uprooted, because they are not deep enough to sustain you. The illusion that shallow roots
can be deepened and thus made to hold is one of the corollaries on which the reversal of the Golden Rule, referred to twice before,
is balanced. As these false underpinnings are uprooted (or given up), equilibrium is experienced as unstable. But the fact is that
NOTHING is less stable than an orientation which is upside-down. Anything that holds it this way is hardly conducive to greater
stability.
T 1 B 37r. The whole danger of defenses lies in their propensity to hold misperceptions rigidly in place. This is why rigidity is
regarded AS stability by those who are off the mark.
T 1 B 37s. NOTE The only final solution - (no, Helen, this has nothing to do with the Nazi use of the term.) You just got frightened
again. One of the more horrible examples of inverted or upside-down thinking (and history is full of horrible examples of this) is the
fact that the Nazis spelled their appalling error with capital letters. I shed many tears over this, but it is by no means the only time I
said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
T 1 B 37t. All actions which stem from reverse thinking are literally the behavioral expressions of those who know not what they
do. Actually, Jean Dixon was right in her emphasis on "Feet on the ground and fingertips in the Heaven," though she was a bit too
literal for your kind of understanding. Many people knew exactly what she meant, so her statement was the right miracle for them.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(33) 33
T 1 B 37u. For you and Bill, it would be better to consider the concept in terms of reliability and validity. A rigid orientation can be
extremely reliable, even if it IS upside-down. In fact, the more consistently upside-down it is, the more reliable it is, because
consistency always held up better mathematically than test-re-test comparisons, which were ALWAYS on shaky ground. You can
check this against Jack's notes if you wish, but I assure you its true. Split-half reliability is statistically a MUCH stronger approach.
The reason for this is that correlation which is the technique applied to test-re-test comparisons, measures only the EXTENT OF
association, and does not consider the Direction at all.
T 1 B 37v. But two halves of the same thing MUST go in the same direction, if there is to be accuracy of measurement. This simple
statement is really the principle on which split half reliability, a means of estimating INTERNAL consistency, rests.
T 1 B 37w. Note, however, that both approaches leave out a very important dimension. Internal consistency criteria disregard time,
because the focus is on one-time measurements. Test-retest comparisons are BASED on time intervals, but they disregard direction.
T 1 B 37x. It is possible, of course, to use both, by establishing internal consistency AND stability over time. You will remember
that Jack once told his class that the more sophisticated statisticians are concentrating more and more on reliability, rather than
validity. The rationale for this, as he said, was that a reliable instrument DOES measure something. He also said, however, that
validity is still the ultimate goal, which reliability can only serve.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(34) 34
T 1 B 37y. I submit (I’m using Jack's language in this section, because it always had a special meaning for you. So did Jack.) Your
confusion of sex and statistics is an interesting example of this whole issue. Note that night you spent in the scent of roses doing a
complex factorial analysis of covariance. Its a funny story to others, because they see a different kind of level confusion than the one
you yourself were making. You might recall that YOU wanted that design, and Jack opposed it. One of the real reasons why that
evening was so exhilarating was because it represented a "battle of intellects", (both good ones, by the way), each communicating
exceptionally clearly but on opposite sides. The sexual aspects were naturally touched off in both of you, because of the sex and
aggression confusion.
T 1 B 37z. (It is especially interesting that after the battle ended on a note of compromise with your agreeing with Jack, he wrote in
the margin of your notes "virtue is triumphant." (HS note re submission-dominance, feminine-masculine roles, entered into this.)
While this (remark) was funny to both of you at the time, you might consider its truer side. The virtue lay in the complete respect
each of you offered to the other's intellect. Your mutual sexual attraction was also shared. The error lay in the word "triumphant".
This had the "battle" connotation, because neither of you was respecting ALL of the other. There is a great deal more to a person
than intellect and genitals. The omission was the Soul.)
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(35) 35
T 1 B 37aa. I submit (after a long interruption) that if a mind (Soul) is in valid relationship with God, it CAN't be upside-down.
Jack and the other very eminent methodologists have abandoned validity in favor of reliability because they have lost sight of the end
and are concentrating on the means.
T 1 B 37ab. Remember the story about the artist who kept devoting himself to inventing better and better ways of sharpening pencils.
He never created anything, but he had the sharpest pencil in town. (The language here is intentional. Sex is often utilized on behalf
of very similar errors. Hostility, triumph, vengeance, self-debasement, and all sort of expressions of the lack of love are often VERY
clearly seen in the accompanying fantasies. But it is a PROFOUND error to imagine that, because these fantasies are so frequent (or
occur so reliably), that this implies validity. Remember that while validity implies reliability the relationship is NOT reversible. You
can be wholly reliable, and ENTIRELY wrong.
T 1 B 37ac. While a reliable test DOES measure something, what USE is the test unless you discover what the "something" is? And
if validity is more important than reliability, and is also necessarily implied BY it, why not concentrate on VALIDITY and let
reliability fall naturally into place.
T 1 B 37ad. Intellect may be a "displacement upward", but sex can be a "displacement outward." How can man "come close" to
others through the parts of him which are really invisible? The word "invisible" means "cannot be seen or perceived."
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(36) 36
What cannot be perceived is hardly the right means for improving perception.
T 1 B 37ae. The confusion of miracle impulse with sexual impulse is a major source of perceptual distortion, because it INDUCES
rather than straightening out the basic level-confusion which underlies all those who seek happiness with the instruments of the
world. A desert is a desert is a desert. You can do anything you want in it, but you CANNOT change it from what it IS. It still lacks
water, which is why it IS a desert (Bring up that dream about the Bluebird. While HS was looking for this dream, she came across
another. The message was to bring both, as an excellent example of how extremely good HS had become over the intervening 25
years at sharpening pencils. Note that the essential content hasn't changed; its just better written.) The thing to do with a desert is to
LEAVE.
T 1 B 38. Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind. By being One, this state of mind goes out to ANYONE, even without the
awareness of the miracle worker himself. The impersonal nature of miracles is because Atonement itself is one, uniting all creations
with their Creator.
T 1 B 39. The miracle is an expression of an inner awareness of Christ and acceptance of his Atonement. The mind is then in a state of
Grace, and naturally becomes gracious, both to the Host within and the stranger without. By bringing in the stranger, he becomes
your brother.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(37) 37
T 1 B 39b. The miracles you are told NOT to perform have not lost their value. They are still expressions of your own state of
Grace, but the ACTION aspect of the miracle should be Christ-controlled, because of His complete Awareness of the Whole Plan.
The impersonal nature of miracle-mindedness ensures YOUR own Grace, but only Christ is in a position to know where Grace can
be BESTOWED.
T 1 B 40. A miracle is never lost. It touches many people you may not even know, and sometimes produces undreamed of changes in
forces of which you are not even aware. This is not your concern. It will also always bless YOU. This is not your concern, either.
But it IS the concern of the Record. The Record is completely unconcerned with reliability, being perfectly valid because of the way
it was set up. It ALWAYS measures what it was supposed to measure.
T 1 B 40b. I want to finish the instructions about sex, because this is an area the miracle worker MUST understand.
T 1 B 40c. Inappropriate sex drives (or misdirected miracle-impulses) result in guilt if expressed, and depression if denied. We said
before that ALL real pleasure comes from doing God's will. Whenever it is NOT done an experience of lack results. This is because
NOT doing the will of God IS a lack of self.
T 1 B 40d. Sex was intended as an instrument for physical creation to enable Souls to embark on new chapters in their experience,
and thus improve their record. The pencil was NOT an end in itself. (See earlier section.) It was an aid to the artist in his own
creative endeavors.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(38) 38
As he made new homes for Souls and guided them through the period of their own developmental readiness, he learned the role of
the father himself. The whole process was set up as a learning experience in gaining Grace.
T 1 B 40e. The pleasure which is derived from sex AS SUCH is reliable only because it stems from an error which men shared.
AWARENESS of the error produces the guilt. DENIAL of the error results in projection. CORRECTION of the error brings release.
T 1 B 40f. The only VALID use of sex is procreation. It is NOT truly pleasurable in itself. "Lead us not into Temptation" means
"Do not let us deceive ourselves into believing that we can relate in peace to God or our brothers with ANYTHING external."
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(39) 39
T 1 B 40g. The "sin of onan" was called a "sin" because it involved a related type of self-delusion; namely, that pleasure
WITHOUT relating can exist.
T 1 B 40h. To repeat an earlier instruction, the concept of either the self or another as a "sex-OBJECT" epitomizes this strange
reversal. As B. put it, and very correctly, too, it IS objectionable, but only because it is invalid. Upside-down logic produces this
kind of thinking.
T 1 B 40i. Child of God, you were created to create the good, the beautiful, and the holy. Do not lose sight of this. You were right in
telling B. to invite Me to enter anywhere temptation arises. I will change the situation from one of inappropriate sexual attraction to
one of impersonal miracle-working. The concept of changing the channel for libidinal expression is Freud's greatest contribution,
except that he did not understand what "channel" really means.
T 1 B 40j. The love of God, for a little while, must still be expressed through one body to another. That is because the real vision is
still so dim. Everyone can use his body best by enlarging man's perception, so he can see the real VISION. THIS VISION is
invisible to the physical eye. The ultimate purpose of the body is to render itself unnecessary. Learning to do this is the only real
reason for its creation.
T 1 B 40k. NOTE Scribes have a particular role in the Plan of Atonement, because they have the ability to EXPERIENCE
revelations themselves, and also to put into words enough of the experience to serve as a basis for miracles.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(40) 40
T 1 B 40l. (This refers to experiences at the visionary level, after which HS wrote "If you will tell me what to do, I will to do it." She
had not known that the word "to" was inserted, and had merely intended to write "I will do it." This recognition had a terrific impact
on HS.)
T 1 B 40m. This is why you EXPERIENCED that revelation about "I will to do" VERY personally, but also WROTE IT: What you
wrote CAN be useful to miracle workers other than yourself. We said before that prayer is the medium of miracles. The miracle
prayer IS what you wrote, i.e. "If you will tell me what to do, I will to do it." *
T 1 B 40n. This prayer is the door that leads out of the desert forever.
T 1 B 40o. *(Correction next day. This is not a complete statement, because it does not exclude the negative. We have already told
you to add "and NOT to do what you would not have me do." in connection with miracles. The distinction has also been made here
between "miracle-mindedness" as a STATE, and "miracle-doing" as its expression.
T 1 B 40p. The former needs YOUR careful protection, because it is a state of miracle-READINESS. This is what the Bible means
in the many references to "Hold yourself ready" and other similar injunctions.
T 1 B 40q. Readiness here means keep your perception right side up, (or valid), so you will ALWAYS be ready, willing, and able.
These are the essentials for "listen, learn, and do." You must be
READY to listen
WILLING to learn
and ABLE to do
T 1 B 40r. Only the last is involuntary, because it is the APPLICATION of miracles which must be Christ-controlled. But the other
two, which are the voluntary aspects of miracle-mindedness, ARE up to you.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(41) 41
T 1 B 40s. To channelize DOES have a "narrowing down" connotation, though NOT in the sense of lack. The underlying state of
mind, or Grace is a total commitment. Only the DOING aspect involves the channel at all. This is because doing is always specific.
T 1 B 40t. As Jack said, "A reliable instrument must measure something," but a channel is also valid. It must learn to do ONLY
what it is supposed to do. Change the prayer to read:
If you will tell me what to do,
ONLY THAT I will to do.
T 1 B 40u. NOTE HS objects to doggerel sound of this, and regards it as very inferior poetry. ANSWER: Its hard to forget, though.
T 1 B 40v. The Revelation is literally unspeakable, because it is an experience of unspeakable love. The word "Awe" should be
reserved only for revelations, to which it is perfectly and correctly applicable. It is NOT appropriately applied to miracles, because a
state of true awe is worshipful. It implies that one of a lesser order stands before the Greater One. This is the case only when a Soul
stands before his Creator. Souls are perfect creations, and should be struck with awe in the presence of the Creator of Perfection.
T 1 B 40w. The miracle, on the other hand, is a sign of love among equals. Equals cannot be in awe of each other, because awe
ALWAYS implies inequality. Awe is not properly experienced even to me. That is why in that short introductory vision, I knelt
beside you, FACING the light.
T 1 B 40x. An Elder Brother is entitled to respect for his greater experience, and a reasonable amount of obedience for his greater
wisdom. He is also entitled to love, because he is a brother, and also to devotion, if he is devoted. It is only my own devotion that
entitles me to yours. But you will notice that I have knelt at your altar as readily as I would ever have you kneel at mine.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(42) 42
T 1 B 40y. There is nothing about me that you cannot attain. I have nothing that does not come from God. The main difference
between us as yet is that I have NOTHING ELSE. This leaves me in a state of true holiness, which is only a POTENTIAL in you.
T 1 B 40z. "No man cometh to the Father but by me" is among the most misunderstood statements in the Bible. It DOES NOT mean
that I am in anyway separate (or different) from you, EXCEPT IN TIME. Now, we know that time does not exist. Actually, the
statement is much more meaningful if it is considered on a vertical rather than a horizontal axis. Regarded along the vertical, man
stands below me, and I stand below God. In the process of "rising up", I AM higher. This is because without me the distance
between God and man is too great for man to encompass. I bridge the distance as an Elder Brother to man, on the one hand, and a
Son of God on the other. My devotion to my brothers has placed me in charge of the Sonship, which I can render complete only to
the extent I can SHARE it.
T 1 B 40aa. This appears to contradict another statement: "I and my Father are one." It doesn't. There are still separate parts in the
statement, in recognition of the fact that the Father is GREATER. Actually, the original statement was "are of one KIND."
T 1 B 40ab. The Holy Spirit is the Bringer of Revelations, not miracles. Revelations are INDIRECTLY inspired by me, because I
am close to the Holy Spirit, and alert to revelation-readiness in my brothers.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(43) 43
I can thus BRING DOWN to them more than they can DRAW down to themselves. Jean Dixon's description is perhaps a better
statement of my position. Because my feet are on the ground and my hands are in heaven, I can bring down the glories of Heaven to
my brothers on earth.
T 1 B 40ac. The Holy Spirit is the Highest Communication Medium. Miracles do not involve this type of communication, because
they are TEMPORARY communicative devices. When man can return to his original form of communication with God by direct
REVELATION, the need for miracles is over. The Holy Spirit mediates higher to lower order communication, keeping the direct
channel from God to man open for revelation. Revelation is NOT reciprocal. It is always FROM God TO man. This is because God
and man are NOT equal. The miracle is reciprocal because it ALWAYS involves equality.
T 1 B 40ad. In the longitudinal (or horizontal) plane, the true equality of all men in the Sonship appears to involve almost endless
time. But we know that time is only an artifact introduced as a learning aid.
T 1 B 41. The miracle is a learning device which lessens the need for time. The sudden shift from horizontal to vertical perception
which the miracle entails introduces an interval from which the doer and the receiver both emerge much farther along in time than
they would otherwise have been.
T 1 B 41b. A miracle has thus the unique property of abolishing time by rendering the space of time it occupies unnecessary. There
is NO relation between the time a miracle TAKES and the time it COVERS. It substitutes FOR learning that might have taken
thousands of years. It does this by the underlying recognition of perfect equality and holiness between doer and receiver on which
the miracle rests.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(44) 44
It is unstable, but perfectly consistent, i.e., it does not occur predictably across time, and it rarely occurs in comparable forms. But
within ITSELF it is perfectly consistent. Since it contains NOTHING BUT an acknowledgment of equality and worth, all parts ARE
equal. This establishes the prerequisite for validity.
T 1 B 41c. We said before that the miracle abolishes time. It does this by a process of COLLAPSING it. It thus abolishes certain
INTERVALS within it. It does this, however, WITHIN the larger temporal sequence.
T 1 B 41d. The validity of the miracle, then, is PREDICTIVE, not logical, within the temporal schema. It establishes an out-of-
pattern time interval, which is NOT under the usual laws of time. Only in this sense is it timeless. By collapsing time, it literally
saves time, much the way "daylight saving time" does. It rearranges the distribution of light.
T 1 B 41e. The miracle is the only device which man has at his immediate disposal for controlling time. Only the Revelation
TRANSCENDS it, having nothing to do with time at all. The miracle is much like the body, in that both are learning aids which aim
at facilitating a state in which they are unnecessary. When the Soul is finally in the original state of direct communication, neither
the body nor the miracle serves any purpose.
T 1 B 41f. While he is IN the body, however, man can choose between loveless and miraculous channels of creativity. He can create
an empty shell (see previous reference), but he DOES NOT create nothing at all. He can wait, delay, paralyze himself, reduce his
creativity almost to nothing, and even introduce a real developmental arrest or regression. But he CANNOT abolish his creativity.
He CAN destroy his medium of communication, but NOT his potential.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(45) 45
T 1 B 41g. He was NOT created by his own free will. Only what HE creates is his to decide. The basic decision of the miracle-
minded is NOT to wait on time any longer than is necessary. Time can waste, as well as be wasted. The miracle-worker, therefore,
accepts the time-control factor of the miracle gladly, because he knows that every collapse of time brings all men closer to the
ultimate RELEASE from time, in which the Son and the Father ARE one.
T 1 B 41h. The real meaning "are of one kind" is "of one mind or will." When the will of the Sonship and the Father are one, their
perfect accord IS Heaven.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(46) 46
T 1 B 41i. ASIDE Tell B. he is right in providing you with the consistent strength you need to get, and he needs to offer. Your
instability and his weakness have resulted from bad karmic choices, and your relationship NOW is crucial for the future. You must
both exert every effort to restore it to what it once was. Both of you are correcting where you have failed before. This has already
enabled you to fulfill a very unexpected role in your own joint salvation, and the salvation of many other children I will entrust
increasingly to you. These are by no means chosen at random. B. should know that his preparation is not only in terms of sharing in
the results of your better application of some rather unusual talents. His own role, which he will understand after his preparation is
complete, will be equally surprising. He will need your help then, as you need his strength now.
T 1 B 41j. Note that you DO NOT need his help as a scribe, because you developed this ability by your own efforts, and finally
placed them at MY disposal. By lending you his strength, he strengthens himself. When he gains this through his own efforts, he
will need your help in a very unexpected way. But this is just another example of the reciprocal nature of miracles.
T 1 B 41k. Equality does not imply homogeneity NOW. When EVERYONE has EVERYTHING, individual contributions to the
Sonship will no longer be necessary. When the Atonement has been completed, ALL talents will be shared by ALL of the Sons of
God. God is NOT partial. All of His children have His total love, and all of his gifts are given freely to everyone alike.
T 1 B 41l. "Except you become as little children" means unless you fully recognize your complete dependence on God, you cannot
know the real power of the Son in his true relationship with the Father.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(47) 47
T 1 B 41m. You and B. DO have special talents which are needed for the Celestial speedup at this time. But note that the term
speed-up is not one which relates to the TRANSCENDING of time.
T 1 B 41n. When time is abolished, and all of the Sons of God have come home, no special agents will be necessary. But do not
underestimate the power of special agents now, or the great need there is for them. I do not claim to be more than that myself. No-one
in his Right Mind, (a term which should be specially noted) ever wants either more or less than that. Those who are called on to
witness for me NOW are witnessing for all men, as I am.
T 1 B 41o. The role of the Priestess was once to experience Revelations and to work miracles. The purpose was to bring those not
yet available for direct Revelations into proper focus for them. Heightened perception was always the essential Priestess attribute.
T 1 B 41p. (This is the first time that HS ever said that she would be honored if there were any notes.)
T 1 B 41q. (Neither B. nor I is really clear about how sexual-impulses can be directly translated into miracle-impulses.) The fantasies
that I mentioned yesterday (refers to discussion HS and B. had) provide an excellent example of how you switch. (Now switch the
pronoun references, or it will be too confusing.)
T 1 B 41r. Fantasies are distorted forms of thinking, because they always involve twisting perception into unreality. Fantasy is a
debased form of vision. Visions and Revelations are closely related. Fantasies and projection are more closely associated, because
both attempt to control external reality according to false internal needs. "Live and let live" happens to be a very meaningful
injunction. Twist reality in any way, and you are perceiving destructively. Reality was lost through usurpation, which in turn
produced tyranny. I told you you were now restored to your former role in the Plan of Atonement. But you must still choose freely
to devote your heritage to the greater Restoration. As long as a single slave remains to walk the earth, your release is not complete.
Complete restoration of the Sonship is the only true goal of the miracle-minded.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(48) 48
T 1 B 41s. Sexual fantasies are distortions of perception by definition. They are a means of making false associations, and obtaining
pleasure from them. Man can do this only because he IS creative. But although he can perceive false associations, he can never
make them real except to himself. As was said before, man believes in what he creates. If he creates a miracle, he will be equally
strong in his belief in that. The strength of his conviction will then sustain the belief of the miracle receiver.
T 1 B 41t. NO fantasies, sexual or otherwise, are true. Fantasies become totally unnecessary as the Wholly satisfying nature of
reality becomes apparent. The sex impulse IS a miracle impulse when it is in proper focus. One individual sees in another the right
partner for "procreating the stock" (Wolff was not too far off here), and also for their joint establishment of a creative home. This
does not involve fantasy at all. If I am asked to participate in the decision, the decision will be a Right one, too.
T 1 B 41u. In a situation where you or another person, or both, experience inappropriate sex impulses, KNOW FIRST that this is an
expression of fear. Your love toward each other is NOT perfect, and this is why the fear arose. Turn immediately to me by denying
the power of the fear, and ask me to help you to replace it with love. This shifts the sexual impulse immediately to the
miracle-impulse, and places it at MY disposal.
T 1 B 41v. Then acknowledge the true creative worth of both yourself AND the other one. This places strength where it belongs.
Note that sexual fantasies are ALWAYS destructive (or depleting), in that they perceive another in an inappropriate creative role.
Both people are perceived essentially as "objects" fulfilling THEIR OWN pleasure drives. This dehumanized view is the source of
the DEPLETING use of sex. Freud's description is purely NEGATIVE, i.e., as a release from the UNPLEASANT. He also
observed that the tension from id impulses never completely abates.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(49) 49
T 1 B 41w. What he should have said is that the shift from miracle-impulses to sexual impulses was debilitating in the first place,
because of the level-confusion involved. This set up a state in which real release was impossible. Note also that Freud's notion of
sex was as a device for inducing RELAXATION, which he confused with PEACE.
T 1 B 41x. Inappropriate sex relaxes only in the sense that it may induce physical sleep. The miracle, on the other hand, is an
ENERGIZER. It always strengthens, and never depletes. It DOES induce peace, and by establishing tranquility (not relaxation) it
enables both giver and receiver to enter into a state of Grace. Here his miracle-mindedness, (not release from tension) is restored.
T 1 B 41y. Tension is the result of a building-up of unexpressed miracle-impulses. This can be truly abated only by releasing the
miracle-drive, which has been blocked. Converting it to sexual libido merely produces further blocking. Never foster this illusion in
yourself, or encourage it in others. An "object" is incapable of release, because it is a concept which is deprived of creative power.
The recognition of the real creative power in yourself AND others brings release because it brings peace.
T 1 B 41z. The peace of God which passeth understanding CAN keep your hearts now and forever.
T 1 B 41aa. There are only two short additions needed here:
1. Your earlier acute problem in writing things down came from a MUCH earlier misuse of very great scribal abilities. These were
turned to secret rather than shared advantage, depriving it T(?) of its miraculous potential, and diverting it into possession. This is
much like the confusion of sex impulses with possession-impulses. Some of the original material is still in the Temple. This is why
you became so afraid about Atlantis. B. has his own reasons.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(50) 50
T 1 B 41ab. 2.Retain your miracle-minded attitude toward Rosie VERY carefully. She once hurt both of you, which is why she is
now your servant. But she is blessed in that she sees service as a source of joy. Help her straighten out her past errors by
contributing to your welfare now.
T 1 B 41ac. (special Revelation re HS –OMISSION 1.)
T 1 B 41ad. HS question re: past memories. Answer: As long as you remember ALWAYS that you never suffered anything because
of anything that anyone ELSE did, this is not dangerous.
T 1 B 41ae. Remember that you who want peace can find it only by complete forgiveness. You never really WANTED peace
before, so there was no point in knowing how to get it. This is an example of the "need to know" principle, which was established
by the Plan of Atonement long before CIA.
T 1 B 41af. No kind of knowledge is acquired by anyone unless he wants it, or believes in some way he NEEDS it. A psychologist
does NOT need a lesson on the hierarchy of needs as such, but like everyone else, he DOES need to understand his own.
T 1 B 41ag. This particular set of notes will be the only one which deals with the concept of "lack", because while the concept does
not exist in the Creation of God, it is VERY apparent in the creations of man. It is, in fact, the essential difference.
T 1 B 41ah. A need implies lack, by definition. It involves the recognition, conscious or unconscious, (and at times, fortunately,
superconscious) that you would be better off in a state which is somehow different from the one you are in.
T 1 B 41ai. Until the Separation, which is a better term than the Fall, nothing was lacking. This meant that man had no needs at all.
If he had not deprived himself, he would never have experienced them.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(51) 51
T 1 B 41aj. After the Separation, needs became the most powerful source of motivation for human action. All behavior is
essentially motivated by needs, but behavior itself is not a Divine attribute. The body is the mechanism for behavior. (Ask any
behaviorist, and he's RIGHT, too.)
T 1 B 41ak. You tell your own classes that nobody would bother even to get up and go from one place to another if he did not think
he would somehow be better off. This is very true.
T 1 B 41al. Believing that he COULD be "better off" is the reason why man has the mechanism for behavior at his disposal. This is
why the Bible says "By their DEEDS ye shall know them."
T 1 B 41am. A man acts according to the particular hierarchy of needs he establishes for himself. His hierarchy, in turn, depends on
his perception of what he IS, i.e., what he LACKS. This establishes his own rules for what he needs to know.
T 1 B 41an. Separation from God is the only lack he really needs to correct. But his Separation would never have occurred if he had
not distorted his perception of truth, and thus perceived himself as lacking.
T 1 B 41ao. The concept of ANY sort of need HIERARCHY arose because, having made this fundamental error, he had already
fragmented himself into levels with DIFFERENT needs. As he integrates, HE becomes one, and his ONE need becomes one
accordingly. Only the fragmented can be confused about this.
T 1 B 41ap. Internal integration within the self will not (suffice to?) correct the lack fallacy, but it WILL correct the NEED fallacy.
(Thank you for writing this as given.) Unified need produces unified action, because it produces lack of ambivalence.
T 1 B 41aq. The concept of need hierarchy, a corollary to the original error, requires correction at its OWN level, before the error of
levels itself can be corrected. Man cannot operate (or behave) effectively while he operates at split levels. But as long as he does so,
he must introduce correction from the bottom UP.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(52) 52
T 1 B 41ar. This is because he now operates in space, where "up" and "down" are meaningful terms. Ultimately, of course, space is
as meaningless as time. The concept is really one of space-time BELIEF. The physical world exists only because man can use it to
correct his UNBELIEF, which placed him in it originally. As long as man KNEW he did not need anything, the whole device was
unnecessary.
T 1 B 41as. The need to know is not safely under man's control at this time. It is MUCH better off under mine. Let's just leave it at
that.
T 1 B 41at. (Specific question raised by WT re sex under existing conditions) (HS raised previous question about the past, which
has just been answered.)
T 1 B 41au. The other question, however, I am more than willing to answer, because it is appropriate for NOW. You and B. both
chose your present sex partners shamefully, and would have to atone for the lack of love which was involved in any case.
T 1 B 41av. You selected them precisely BECAUSE they were NOT suited to gratify your fantasies. This was not because you
wanted to abandon or give up the fantasies, but because you were AFRAID of them. You saw in your partners a means of protecting
against the fear, but both of you continued to "look around" for chances to indulge the fantasies.
T 1 B 41aw. The dream of the "perfect partner" is an attempt to find EXTERNAL integration, while retaining conflicting needs in the
self.
T 1 B 41ax. B. was somewhat less guilty of this than you, but largely because he was more afraid. He had abandoned the hope (of
finding a perfect partner) in a neurotic sense of despair of finding it. You, on the other hand, insisted that the hope was justified.
Neither of you, therefore, was in your Right Mind.
T 1 B 41ay. As was said before, homosexuality is inherently more risky (or error prone) than heterosexuality, but both can be
undertaken on an equally false basis. The falseness of the basis is clear in the accompanying fantasies. Homosexuality ALWAYS
involves misperception of the self OR the partner, and generally both.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(53) 53
T 1 B 41az. Penetration DOES NOT involve magic, nor DOES ANY form of sexual behavior. It IS a magic belief to engage in
ANY form of body image activity at all. You neither created yourselves, nor controlled your creation. By introducing levels into
your own perception, you opened the way for body-image distortions.
T 1 B 41ba. The lack of love (or faulty need-orientation) which led to your particular person (not OBJECT) choices CAN BE
corrected within the existent framework, and would HAVE to be in the larger interest of overall progress. The situation is
questionable largely because of its inherent vulnerability to fantasy gratification. Doing the best you can WITHIN this limitation is
probably the best corrective measure at present. Any relationship you have undertaken for whatever reasons becomes a
responsibility.
T 1 B 41bb. If you shift your own needs, some amount of corresponding shift in the need-orientation of the other person MUST
result, This will be beneficial, even if the partner was originally attracted to you BECAUSE of your disrespect. Teaching devices
which are totally alien to a learner's perceptual system are usually merely disruptive. Transfer depends on SOME common elements
in the new situation which are understandable in terms of the old.
T 1 B 41bc. Man can never control the effects of fear himself, because he has CREATED fear and believes in what he creates. In
attitude, then, though not in content, he resembles his own Creator, who has perfect faith in His Creations because he Created them.
All creation rests on belief, and the belief in the creation produces its existence. This is why it is possible for a man to believe what
is not true for anyone else. It is true for him because it is made BY him.
T 1 B 41bd. Every aspect of fear proceeds from upside-down perception. The TRULY creative devote their efforts to correcting this.
The neurotic devotes his to compromise. The psychotic tries to escape by establishing the truth of his own errors. It is most difficult
to free him by ordinary means, only because he is more stable in his denial of truth.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(54) 54
T 1 B 42a. The miracle makes no distinction among degrees of misperception. It is a device for perception-correction which is
effective quite apart from either the degree or the direction of the error. This is its TRUE indiscriminateness.
T 1 B 42b. Christ-controlled miracles are selective only in that they are directed toward those who can use them for
THEMSELVES. Since this makes it inevitable that they will extend them to others, a very strong chain of Atonement is welded. But
Christ-control takes no account at all of the MAGNITUDE of the miracle itself, because the concept of size exists only in a plane
that is itself unreal. Since the miracle aims at RESTORING reality, it would hardly be useful if it were bound by the laws of the
same error it aims to correct. Only man makes that kind of error. It is an example of the "foolish consistency" his own false beliefs
have engendered.
T 1 B 42c. Both the power and the strength of man's creative will must be understood, before the real meaning of denial can be
appreciated and abolished. Denial is NOT mere negation. It is a positive miscreation. While the miscreation is NECESSARILY
believed in by its own creator, it does not exist at all at the level of true Creation.
T 1 B 43. The miracle compares the creations of man with the higher level of creation, accepting what is in ACCORD as true, and
rejecting the DISCORDANT as false. This is why it is so closely associated with validity. Real validity is both true AND useful, or
better, it is useful BECAUSE it is true.
T 1 B 43b. All aspects of fear are untrue, because they DO NOT exist at the higher creative levels, and therefore do not exist at all.
To whatever extent a man is willing to submit his beliefs to the real test of validity, to that extent are his perceptions healed (or
corrected.)
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(55) 55
T 1 B 43c. In sorting out the false from the true, the miracle proceeds much along the lines suggested very correctly by B., i.e.:
If perfect love casts out fear,
And if fear exists,
Then there is NOT perfect love.
But
Only perfect love really exists.
T 1 B 43d. Therefore, if there is fear, it creates a state which does not exist. Believe THIS and you WILL be free. Only God can establish this
solution, for THIS faith IS His gift.
T 1 C. Distortions of Miracle Impulses (*N 211 5:60)
T 1 C 1. Man must contribute to his readiness here as elsewhere. The readiness for faith, as for everything else that is true, entails
the two steps necessary for the release from fear.
T 1 C 2. Denial of fear, in human terms, is a strong defense because it entails two levels of error:
1. That truth CAN be denied and
2. That absence of truth can be effective.
T 1 C 3. EXPERIENCING fear, which is more characteristic of B., involves only the second error. However, these differences do
not affect the power of the miracle at all, since only truth and error are its concern.
T 1 C 4. YOU are both more miracle-minded, and less able to recognize fear because of your stronger, but split, identification. B.,
also characteristically, is less miracle-minded, but better able to recognize fear, because his identification is more consistently right
but weaker.
T 1 C 5. Together, the conditions needed for consistent miracle-mindedness, the state in which fear has been abolished, can be
particularly well worked out. In fact, it WAS already well worked out before.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(56) 56
T 1 C 6. Your idea about the real meaning of "possession" should be clarified. Your own denial of fear (this refers to a visionary
experience of HS) introduced some error variance, but not really a significant amount. However, there is always a chance that as the
size of the sample increases, what was non-significant before may ATTAIN significance, so we had better get this out of the way
now while you are still within the safety margin.
T 1 C 7. Fear of possession is a perverted expression of the fear of the irresistible attraction. (Aside. Yes, this DOES apply to
homosexuality, among other errors, where the whole concept of possessing, or "entering" is a key fear. It is a symbolic statement of
an inverted decision NOT to enter into, or possess, the Kingdom. In physical terms, which it emphasizes because of the inherent
error of Soul avoidance, REAL physical creation is avoided, and fantasy gratification is substituted.)
T 1 C 8. The truth is still that the attraction of God is irresistible at ALL levels, and the acceptance of this totally unavoidable truth
is only a matter of time. But you should consider whether you WANT to wait, because you CAN return now, if you choose. (Note
to HS: You are writing this with improper motivation, but we will try anyway. If you are to stop, do so immediately.)
T 1 C 9. Possession is a concept which has been subject to numerous distortions, some of which we will list below:
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(57) 57
1. It (possession) can be associated with the body only. If this occurs, sex is particularly likely to be contaminated. Possession
versus being possessed is apt to be seen as the male and female role. Since neither will be conceived of as satisfying alone, and both
will be associated with fear, this interpretation is particularly vulnerable to psychosexual confusion.
2. From a rather similar misperceptual reference point, possession can also be associated with things. This is essentially a shift from
1), and is usually due to an underlying fear of associating possession with people. In this sense, it is an attempt to PROTECT
people, like the superstition about "protecting the name", we mentioned before.
T 1 C 10. Both 1) and 2) are likely to become compulsive for several reasons, including:
a. They represent an attempt to escape from the real possession-drive, which cannot be satisfied this way.
b. They set up substitute goals, which are usually reasonably easy to attain.
c. They APPEAR to be relatively harmless, and thus SEEM to allay fear. The fact that they usually interfere with good
interpersonal relationships can be interpreted, in this culture, as a lack of sophistication on the part of the OTHER (not the self), and
this induces a false feeling of confidence in the solution, based on reliability NOT validity. It is also fairly easy to find a partner who
SHARES the illusion. Thus, we have any number of relationships which are actually ESTABLISHED on the basis
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(58) 58
of 1), and others which HOLD TOGETHER primarily because of the joint interests in 2).
d. The manifestly external emphasis which both entail seems to be a safety device, and thus permits a false escape from much more
basic inhibitions. As a compromise solution, the illusion of interpersonal relating is preserved, along with the retention of the lack of
love component. This kind of psychic juggling leaves the person (or juggler?) with a feeling of emptiness, which in fact is perfectly
justified, because he IS acting from scarcity. He then becomes more and more driven in his behavior, to fill the emptiness.
T 1 C 11. When these solutions have been invested with extreme belief, 1) leads to sex crimes, and 2) to stealing. The kleptomaniac
is a good example of the latter.
T 1 C 12. Generally, two types of emotional disturbances result:
a. The tendency to maintain the illusion that only the physical is real. This produces depression.
b. The tendency to invest the physical with non-physical properties. This is essentially magic, and tends more toward
anxiety-proneness.
c. The tendency to vacillate from one to the other, which produces a corresponding vacillation between depression AND anxiety.
T 1 C 13. Both result in self imposed starvation.
T 1 C 14. 3. Another type of distortion is seen in the fear of or desire for "spirit" possession. The term "spirit" is profoundly
debased in this context, but it DOES entail a recognition that
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(59) 59
the body is not enough, and investing it with magic will not work. This recognition ACCEPTS the fact that neither 1) nor 2) is
sufficient, but, precisely BECAUSE it does not limit fear so narrowly, it is more likely to produce greater fear in its own right.
T 1 C 15. Endowing the Spirit with human possessiveness is a more INCLUSIVE error than 1) or 2), and a step somewhat further
away from the "Right Mind." Projection is also more likely to occur, with vacillations between grandiosity and fear. "Religion" in a
distorted sense, is also more likely to occur in this kind of error, because the idea of a "spirit" is introduced, though fallaciously,
while it is excluded from 1) and 2).
T 1 C 16. Witchcraft is thus particularly apt to be associated with 3), because of the much greater investment in magic.
T 1 C 17. It should be noted that 1) involves only the body, and 2) involves an attempt to associate things with human attributes.
Three, on the other hand, is a more serious level confusion, because it endows the Spirit with EVIL attributes. This accounts both
for the religious zeal of its proponents, and the aversion (or fear) of its opponents. Both attitudes stem from the same false belief.
T 1 C 18. This in NOT what the Bible means by "possessed of the Holy Spirit." It is interesting to note that even those who DID
understand that could nevertheless EXPRESS their understanding inappropriately. The concept of "speaking
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in many tongues" was originally an injunction to communicate to everyone in his own language, or his own level. It hardly meant to
speak in a way that NOBODY can understand. This strange error occurs when people DO understand the need for Universal
communication, but have contaminated it with possession fallacies. The fear engendered by this misperception leads to a conflicted
state in which communication IS attempted, but the fear is allayed by making the communication incomprehensible.
T 1 C 19. It could also be said that the fear induced selfishness, or regression, because incomprehensible communication is hardly a
worthy offering from one Son of God to another.
T 1 C 20. 4. Knowledge can also be misinterpreted as a means of possession. Here, the content is not physical, and the underlying
fallacy is more likely to be the confusion of mind and brain. The attempt to unite non-physical content with physical attributes is
illustrated by statements like "the thirst for knowledge." (No Helen, this is NOT what the "thirst" in the Bible means. The term was
used only because of man's limited comprehension, and is probably better dropped.)
T 1 C 21. The fallacious use of knowledge can result in several errors, including:
a. The idea that knowledge will make the individual more attractive to others. This is a possession-fallacy.
b. The idea that knowledge will make the individual invulnerable. This is the reaction formation against the underlying fear of
vulnerability.
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c. The idea that knowledge will make the individual worthy. This is largely pathetic.
T 1 C 22. Both you and B. should consider type 4) very carefully. Like all these fallacies, it contains a denial mechanism, which
swings into operation as the fear increases, thus canceling out the error temporarily, but seriously impairing efficiency.
T 1 C 23. Thus, you claim you can't read, and B. claims that he can't speak. Note that depression is a real risk here, for a Child of
God should never REDUCE his efficiency in ANY way. The depression comes from a peculiar pseudo-solution which reads:
A Child of God is efficient.
I am not efficient.
Therefore, I am not a Child of God.
T 1 C 24. This leads to neurotic resignation, and this is a state which merely INCREASES the depression.
T 1 C 25. The corresponding denial mechanism for 1) is the sense of PHYSICAL inability, or IMPOTENCE. The denial mechanism
for 2) is often bankruptcy. Collectors of things often drive themselves well beyond their financial means, in an attempt to force
discontinuance. If this idea of cessation cannot be tolerated, a strange compromise involving BOTH insatiable possessiveness and
insatiable throwing-away (bankruptcy) may result. An example is the inveterate or compulsive gambler, particularly the
horse-racing addict. Here, the conflicted drive is displaced both from people AND things, and is invested in animals. The implied
DEROGATION of people is the cause of the underlying EXTREME superstition of the horse racing addict. Here, the conflicted
drive is displaced both from people AND things, and is invested in animals.
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CHAPTER 2 – THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATION
T 2 A. Introduction (*N not present in Notes)
(Insert for page 61)
T 2 A 1. This section is inserted here because it deals with a more fundamental misuse of knowledge, referred to in the Bible as the
cause of the Fall (or Separation). There are several introductory remarks which are intended to make these explanations less
fear provoking. The first is a couplet which I drew to your attention during the fragments of Midsummer Night's Dream, which you
heard last night:
"Be as thou wast wont to be
See as thou wast wont to see."
It is noteworthy that these words were said by Oberon in releasing Titania from her own errors, both of being and perceiving. These
were the words which re-established her true identity as well as her true abilities and judgment. The similarity here is obvious.
T 2 A 2. There are also some definitions, which I asked you to take from the dictionary, which will also be helpful. Their somewhat unusual nature is due to the fact that they are not first definitions in their chronological appearance. Nevertheless, the fact that each of them does appear in the dictionary should be reassuring.
Project (verb): to extend forward or out.
Project (noun): a plan in the mind
World: a natural grand division. (Note that you originally wrote "word" instead of "world".)
T 2 A 3. We will refer later to projection as related to both mental illness and mental health. It will also be commented on that
Lucifer literally projected himself from heaven. We also have observed that man can create an empty shell, but cannot create
nothing at all.
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This emptiness provides the screen for the misuse of projection.
T 2 A 4. The Garden of Eden, which is described as a literal garden in the Bible, was not originally an actual garden at all. It was
merely a mental state of complete need-lack. Even in the literal account, it is noteworthy that the pre-Separation state was
essentially one in which man needed nothing. The Tree of Knowledge, again an overly-literal concept, (as is clearly shown by the
subsequent reference to "eating of the fruit of the tree") is a symbolic reference to some of the misuses of knowledge referred to in
the section immediately preceding this one. There is, however, considerable clarification of this concept, which must be understood
before the real meaning of the "detour into fear" can be fully comprehended. Projection, as defined above, (this refers to the verb) is
a fundamental attribute of God, which he also gave to his Son. In the Creation, God projected his Creative Ability out of Himself
toward the Souls which He created, and also imbued them with the same loving wish (or will) to create. We have commented before
on the FUNDAMENTAL error involved in confusing what has been created with what is being created. We have also emphasized
that man, insofar as the term relates to Soul, has not only been fully Created, but also been created perfect. There is no emptiness in
him. The next point, too, has already been made, but bears repetition here. The Soul, because of its own likeness to its Creator, is
creative. No Child of God is capable of losing this ability, because it is inherent in what he IS.
T 2 A 5. Whenever projection in its inappropriate sense is utilized, it ALWAYS implies that some emptiness (or lack of everything)
must exist, and that it is within man's ability to put his own ideas there INSTEAD of the truth. If you will consider carefully what
this entails, the following will become quite apparent:
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First, the assumption is implicit that what God has Created can be changed by the mind of Man.
Second, the concept that what is perfect can be rendered imperfect (or wanting) is intruded.
Third, the belief that man can distort the Creations of God (including himself) has arisen, and is tolerated.
Fourth, that since man can create himself, the direction of his own creation is up to him.
T 2 A 6. These related distortions represent a picture of what actually occurred in the Separation. None of this existed before, nor
does it actually exist now. The world, as defined above, WAS made as a natural grand division, or projecting outward of God. That
is why everything which He Created is like Him.
T 2 A 7. It should be noted that the opposite of pro is con. Strictly speaking, then, the opposite of projecting is conjecting, a term
which referred to a state of uncertainty or guess work. Other errors arise in connection with ancillary defenses, to be considered
later. For example, dejection, which is obviously associated with depression, injection, which can be misinterpreted readily enough,
in terms of possession fallacies (particularly penetration), and rejection, which is clearly associated with denial. It should be noted
also that rejection can be used as refusing, a term which necessarily involves a perception of what is refused as something unworthy.
T 2 A 8. Projection as undertaken by God was very similar to the kind of inner radiance which the Children of the Father inherit
from Him. It is important to note that the term "project outward" necessarily implies that the real source of projection is internal.
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This is as true of the Son as of the Father.
T 2 A 9. The world, in its original connotation, included both the proper creation of man by God, AND the proper creation by man
in his Right Mind. The latter required the endowment of man by God with free will, because all loving creation is freely given.
Nothing in either of these statements implies any sort of level involvement, or, in fact, anything except one continuous line of
creation, in which all aspects are of the same order.
T 2 A 10. When the "lies of the serpent" were introduced, they were specifically called lies because they are not true. When man
listened, all he heard was untruth. He does not have to continue to believe what is not true, unless he chooses to do so. All of his
miscreations can disappear in the well known "twinkling of an eye", because it is a visual misperception.
T 2 A 11. Man's spiritual eye can sleep, but as will shortly appear in the notes (reference Bob, elevator operator) a sleeping eye can
still see. One translation of the Fall, a view emphasized by Mary Baker Eddy, and worthy of note, is that "a deep sleep fell upon
Adam". While the Bible continues to associate this sleep as a kind of anesthetic utilized for protection of Adam during the creation
of Eve, Mrs. Eddy was correct in emphasizing that nowhere is there any reference made to his waking up. While Christian Science
is clearly incomplete, this point is much in its favor.
T 2 A 12. The history of man in the world as he saw it has not been characterized by any genuine or comprehensive re-awakening,
or re-birth.
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This is impossible as long as man projects in the spirit of miscreation. It still remains within him to project as God projected his own
Spirit to him. In reality, this is his ONLY choice, because his free will was made for his own joy in creating the perfect.
T 2 A 13. All fear is ultimately reducible to the basic misperception of man's ability to USURP the power of God. It is again
emphasized that he neither CAN nor HAS been able to do this. In this statement lies the real justification for his escape from fear.
This is brought about by his acceptance of the Atonement, which places him in a position to realize that his own errors never really
occurred.
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T 2 A 14. When the deep sleep fell upon Adam, he was then in a condition to experience nightmares, precisely because he was
sleeping. If a light is suddenly turned on while someone is dreaming, and the content of his dream is fearful, he is initially likely to
interpret the light itself as part of the content of his own dream. However, as soon as he awakens, the light is correctly perceived as
the release from the dream, which is no longer accorded reality. I would like to conclude this with the Biblical injunction "Go ye
and do likewise." It is quite apparent that this depends on the kind of knowledge which was NOT referred to by the "Tree of
Knowledge" which bore lies as fruit. The knowledge that illuminates rather than obscures is the knowledge which not only makes
you free, but also shows you clearly that you ARE free.
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Lead in for p. 61 (after insert)
T 2 A 15. The preceding sections were inserted because of the necessity of distinguishing between real and false knowledge. Having
made this distinction, it is well to return to the errors already listed a while back. It might be well to recapitulate them here. The
first involved the fallacy that only the physical is real. The second involved things rather than people. The third involves the
endowment of the physical with non-physical properties. And the fourth clarified the misuse of knowledge. All of them were
subsumed under possession fallacies. The denial mechanism for three has already been set forth in some detail, and will also
continue after the following:
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(Retyped)
T 2 A 16. The corresponding denial mechanism for 1) is the sense of PHYSICAL inability, or IMPOTENCE. The denial mechanism
for 2) is often bankruptcy. Collectors of things often drive themselves well beyond their financial means, in an attempt to force
discontinuance. If this idea of cessation cannot be tolerated, a strange compromise involving BOTH insatiable possessiveness and
insatiable throwing-away (bankruptcy) may result. An example is the inveterate or compulsive gambler, particularly the
horse-racing addict. Here, the conflicted drive is displaced both from people AND things, and is invested in animals. The implied
DEROGATION of people is the cause of the underlying EXTREME superstition of the horse racing addict.
T 2 A 17. The alcoholic is in a similar position, except that his hostility is more inward than outward directed.
T 2 A 18. Defenses aimed at protecting (or retaining) error are particularly hard to undo, because they introduce second-order
misperceptions which obscure the underlying errors still further.
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T 2 A 19. The pseudo-corrective mechanism of three is apt to be more varied because of the more inclusive nature of the error,
which has already been mentioned. Some of the possibilities are listed below:
T 2 A 20. One aspect of the possession/possessed conflict can be raised to predominance. If this is attempted in connection with
POSSESSING, it leads to the paranoid solution. The underlying component of "being possessed" is retained in the "persecution"
fantasies, which are generally concomitants.
T 2 A 21. If "being possessed" is brought to ascendance, a state of some sort of possession by external forces results, but NOT with
a major emphasis on attacking others. Attack BY others becomes the more obvious component. In the more virulent forms, there is
a sense of being possessed by demons, and unless there is vacillation with a), a catatonic solution is more likely than a paranoid one.
T 2 A 22. The FOCUSED paranoid has become more rigid in his solution, and centers on ONE source of projection to escape from
vacillation. (Aside: It should be noted that this type of paranoia is an upside-down form of religion, because of its obvious attempt to
unify into oneness.)
T 2 A 23. Both 1, 2, and 4 are more likely to produce neurotic rather than psychotic states, though this is by no means guaranteed.
However, 3 is inherently more vulnerable to the psychotic correction, again because of the more fundamental level confusion which
is involved.
T 2 A 24. It should be noted, however, that the greater fear which is induced by 3 can ITSELF reach psychotic proportions, thus
forcing the individual closer and closer to a psychotic solution.
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T 2 A 25. It is emphasized here that these differences have no effect at all on the miracle, which can heal any of them with equal
ease. This is because of the miracle's inherent avoidance of within-error distinctions. Its SOLE concern is to distinguish between
truth, on the one hand, and ALL kinds of error, on the other. This is why some miracles SEEM to be of greater magnitude than
others. But remember the first point in this course, i.e., that there is no order of difficulty in miracles.
T 2 A 26. The emphasis on mental illness which is marked in these notes reflects the "UNDOING" aspect of the miracle. The
"DOING" aspect is, of course, much more important. But a true miracle cannot occur on a false basis. Sometimes the undoing must
precede it.
T 2 A 27. At other times, both can occur simultaneously, but you are not up to this at the moment.
T 2 A 28. Further, insights into mental illness can be misused, and lead to preoccupation with one's own symptoms. This is why this
area is less constructive for most people than a course primarily devoted to mental health. However, some professions will find
(some?) principles of mental illness constructive, especially those which are concerned with mental illness in others. This obviously
includes psychologists.
T 2 A 29. The obvious correction for ALL types of the possession-fallacy is to redefine possession correctly. In the sense of "taking
over," the concept does not exist at all in divine reality, which is the only level of reality where real existence is a meaningful term.
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T 2 A 30. No-one CAN be "taken over" unless he wills to be. However, if he places his mind under tyranny, rather than authority,
he intrudes the submission/dominance concept onto free will himself. This produces the obvious contradiction inherent in any
formulation that associates free will with imprisonment. Even in very mild forms, this kind of association is risky, and may spread
quite unexpectedly, particularly under external stress. This is because it can be internally controlled ONLY if EXTERNAL
conditions are peaceful. This is not safe, because external conditions are produced by the thoughts of many, not all of whom are
pure in heart as yet.
T 2 A 31. Why should you be at THEIR mercy? This issue is VERY closely related to the whole possession issue. You insist on
thinking that people CAN possess you, if you believe that their thoughts (or the external environment) can affect you, regardless of
WHAT they think. You are perfectly unaffected by ALL expressions of lack of love. These can be either from yourself and others,
or from yourself to others, or from others to you. (I’m glad you passed that test. It was crucial. This is ref. to HS reluctance to take
dictations as given.)
T 2 A 32. Peace is an attribute in YOU. You cannot find it outside. All mental illness is some form of EXTERNAL searching.
Mental health is INNER peace. It enables you to remain unshaken by lack of love from without, and capable, through your own
miracles of correcting the external conditions, which proceed from lack of love in others.
T 2 B. The re-interpretation of Defenses (*N 230 5:79)
T 2 B 1. When you are afraid of ANYTHING, you are acknowledging its power to hurt you. Remember that where your heart is,
there is your treasure also. This means that you believe in what you VALUE.
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If you are AFRAID, you are VALUING WRONG. Human understanding will inevitably value wrong, and by endowing all human
thoughts with equal power, will inevitably DESTROY peace. This is why the Bible speaks of "The peace of God which PASSETH
(human) understanding."
T 2 B 2. THIS peace is totally incapable of being shaken by human errors of any kind. It denies the ability of anything which is not
of God to effect you in any way.
T 2 B 3. This is the PROPER use of denial. It is not used to HIDE anything, but it IS used to correct error. It brings ALL error into
the light, and since error and darkness are the same, it abolishes error automatically.
T 2 B 4. True denial is a very powerful protective device. You can and should deny any belief that error can hurt you. This kind of
denial is NOT a concealment device, but a correction device. The "Right Mind" of the mentally healthy DEPENDS on it.
T 2 B 5. You can do ANYTHING I ask. I have asked you to perform miracles, and have made it VERY clear that these are
NATURAL, CORRECTIVE, HEALING, and UNIVERSAL. There is nothing good they cannot do. But they cannot be performed
in the spirit of doubt. Remember my own question, before you ask yours "Oh ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou DOUBT."
(Reference to Christ and the apostles walking on water.)
T 2 B 6. You have asked YOURSELVES why you cannot really incorporate my words (the idea of cannibalism in connection with
the Sacrament is a reflection of a distorted view of sharing. I told you before that the word "thirst" in connection with the Spirit was
used in the Bible because of the limited understanding of those to whom I spoke. I also told you NOT to use it. The same holds for
expressions like "feeding on.")
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Symbiosis is misunderstood by the mentally ill, who use it that way. But I also told you that you must recognize your total
dependence on God, a statement which you did not like.)
T 2 B 7. God and the Souls He created ARE symbiotically related. They are COMPLETELY dependent on each other. The creation
of the Soul itself has already been perfectly accomplished, but the creation BY Souls has not. God created Souls so He could depend
on them BECAUSE He created them perfectly. He gave them His peace so they would not be shaken, and would be unable to be
deceived. Whenever you are afraid, you ARE deceived. Your mind is NOT serving your Soul. This literally starves the Soul by
denying its daily bread. Remember the poem about the Holy Family which crossed your mind last night:
"Where tricks of words are never said
And mercy is as plain as bread."
The reason why that had such a strong impact on you originally was because you knew what it MEANT.
T 2 B 8. God offers ONLY mercy. Your own words should ALWAYS reflect only mercy, because that is what you have received,
and that is what you should GIVE. Justice is a temporary expedient, or an attempt to teach man the meaning of mercy. Its
JUDGMENTAL side rises only because man is capable of INJUSTICE if that is what his mind creates. You are afraid of God's will
because you have used your own will, which He created in the likeness of His own, to MISCREATE.
T 2 B 9. What you do NOT realize is that the mind can miscreate only when it is NOT free. An imprisoned mind is not free by
definition. It is possessed, or held back, by ITSELF. Its will is therefore limited, and not free to assert itself.
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T 2 B 10. The three things that crossed your mind, which was comparatively free at the time, are perfectly relevant:
T 2 B 11. 1. It is alright to remember the past, PROVIDED you also remember that ANYTHING you suffer is because of YOUR
OWN ERRORS.
T 2 B 12. 2. In this context, your remark that "after the burning, I swore if I ever saw him again, I would (not) T("Not" was written in
later) recognize him. Note, by the way, that you did not put in the "not" until afterwards. That is because your inherent correction-
device was working properly at the moment. The result is that you are NOT DENYING ME.
T 2 B 13. 3. The story about Hinda. This was an excellent example of misperception which led to a totally unwarranted fear of a
PERSON. (HS story refers to a very young child who fell down the stairs when HS had arms open in a welcoming gesture at bottom
of stairs. For years afterwards, Hinda screamed upon seeing HS.) The mis-step which caused her fall had nothing at all to do with
you, just as your own mis-steps have nothing at all to do with me.
T 2 B 14. Denial of error is a very powerful defense of truth. We have slowly been shifting the emphasis from the negative to the
positive use of denial. Remember, we have already stated that denial is not a purely negative device; it results in positive
miscreation. That is the way the mentally ill DO employ it.
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T 2 B 15. But remember a very early thought of your own, "Never underestimate the power of denial." In the service of the "Right
Mind", the denial of ERROR frees the mind and re-establishes the freedom of the will. When the will is REALLY free, it CANNOT
miscreate, because it recognizes ONLY TRUTH.
T 2 B 16. Projection arises out of FALSE DENIAL. Not out of its proper use. My own role in the Atonement IS one of true
projection, i.e., I can project to YOU the affirmation of truth. If you project error to me (or to yourself) you are interfering with the
process. My use of projection, which can also be yours, is NOT based on faulty denial. But it DOES involve the very powerful use
of the denial of error.
T 2 B 17. The miracle worker is one who accepts my kind of denial and projection, unites his own inherent abilities to deny and
project with mine, and imposes them back on himself and others. This establishes the total lack of threat anywhere. Together we can
then work for the real time of peace, which is Eternal.
T 2 B 18. I inspired Bob (ref. to elevator man who took HS down from her apt.) to make that remark to you, and it is a pity that you
heard only the last part. But you can still use that. His remark ended with: "Every shut eye is not asleep." Since your own vision is
much improved at the moment, we will go on a while.
T 2 B 19. Freud's identification of mechanisms was quite correct, as was his recognition of their creative ability. They can INDEED
create man's perception, both of himself and his surroundings.
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T 2 B 20. But Freud's limitations induced inevitable limits on his own perception. He made two kinds of errors.
T 2 B 21. The first is that he saw only how the mechanisms worked in the mentally ill.
T 2 B 22. The second is his own denial of the mechanism of the Atonement.
T 2 B 23. Let us take up the first, because a clear understanding of the second depends on it.
T 2 B 24. Denial should be directed only to error, and projection should be limited to truth. You should truly give as you have truly
received. The Golden Rule can work effectively only on this basis.
T 2 B 25. Intellectualization is a poor word, which stems from the brain-mind confusion. "Right-Mindedness" is better. This device
defends the RIGHT MIND, and gives it control over the body. "Intellectualization" implies a split, whereas "Right-Mindedness"
involves healing.
T 2 B 26. Withdrawal is properly employed in the service of withdrawing from the desert. It is NOT a device for escape, but for
consolidation. There IS only One Mind.
T 2 B 27. Dissociation is quite similar. You should split yourself off from error, but only in defense of integration.
T 2 B 28. Detachment is essentially a weaker form of dissociation. This is one of the major areas of withholding that both you and
B. are engaging in.
T 2 B 29. Flight can be undertaken in whatever direction you choose, but note that the concept itself implies flight FROM
something. Flight from error is perfectly appropriate..
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T 2 B 30. Distantiation is a way of putting distance between yourself and what you SHOULD fly from.
T 2 B 31. Regression is a real effort to return to your own original state. In this sense, it is utilized to RESTORE, not to go back to
the less mature.
T 2 B 32. Sublimation should be associated with the SUBLIME.
T 2 B 33. There are many other so-called "dynamic" concepts which are profound errors due essentially to the misuse of defenses.
Among them is the concept of different levels of aspiration, which results from real level confusion.
T 2 B 34. However, the main point to be understood from these notes is that you can defend truth as well as error, and in fact, much
better.
T 2 B 35. So far we have concentrated on ends rather than means because unless you regard an end as worth achieving, you will not
devote yourself to the means by which it can BE achieved. Your own question enabled me to shift the emphasis from end to means.
(Question asked was "how can we incorporate this material?") You and B. HAVE accepted the end as valuable, thus signifying your
willingness to use defenses to ensure it.
T 2 B 36. The means are easier to clarify after the true worth of the goal itself is firmly established.
T 2 B 37. Everyone defends his own treasure. You do not have to tell him to do this, because HE will do so automatically. The real
question still remains WHAT do you treasure, and HOW MUCH do you treasure it?
T 2 B 38. Once you learn to consider these two points, and bring them into ALL your actions as the true criteria for behavior, I will
have little difficulty in clarifying the means. You have not learned to be consistent about this as yet. I have therefore concentrated on
showing you that the means ARE available whenever you DO ask.
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T 2 B 39. You can save a lot of time, however, if you do not need to extend this step unduly. The correct focus will shorten it
immeasurably.
T 2 B 40. Papers will be very easy to write as this time is shortened.
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T 2 B 41. The Atonement is the ONLY defense which cannot be used destructively. That is because, while everyone must
eventually join it, it was not a device which was generated by man. The Atonement PRINCIPLE was in effect long before the
Atonement itself was begun. The Principle was love, and the Atonement itself, was an ACT of love. Acts were not necessary before
the Separation, because the time-space belief did not exist.
T 2 B 42. It was only after the Separation that the defense of Atonement, and the necessary conditions for its fulfillment were
planned. It became increasingly apparent that all of the defenses which man can choose to use constructively or destructively were
not enough to save him. It was therefore decided that he needed a defense which was so splendid that he could not misuse it,
although he COULD refuse it. His will could not turn it into a weapon of attack, which is the inherent characteristic of all other
defenses. The Atonement thus becomes the only defense which was NOT a two-edged sword.
T 2 B 43. The Atonement actually began long before the Crucifixion. Many Souls offered their efforts on behalf of the Separated
Ones but they could not withstand the strength of the attack, and had to be brought back. Angels came, too, but their protection was
not enough, because the Separated ones were not interested in peace. They had already split themselves, and were bent on dividing
rather than reintegrating. The levels they introduced into themselves turned against each other, and they, in turn, turned against each
other. They established differences, divisions, cleavages, dispersion, and all the other concepts related to the increasing splits they
produced.
T 2 B 44. Not being in their Right Minds, they turned their defenses from protection to assault, and acted literally insanely. It was
essential to introduce a split-proof device which could be used ONLY to heal, if it was used at all.
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T 2 B 45. The Atonement was built into the space-time belief in order to set a limit on the need for the belief, and ultimately to
make learning complete. The Atonement IS the final lesson. Learning, itself, like the classrooms in which it occurs, is temporary.
Let all those who overestimate human intelligence remember this. (HS questions last sentence, which she perceives as threatening.)
The ability to learn has no value when change of understanding is no longer necessary. The eternally creative have nothing to learn.
Only after the Separation was it necessary to direct the creative force to learning, because changed behavior had become mandatory.
T 2 B 46. Human beings can learn to improve their behavior, and can also learn to become better and better learners. This increase
serves (HS notes that this was written "served") to bring them in closer and closer accord with the Sonship. But the Sonship itself is
a perfect creation, and perfection is not a matter of degree. Only while there are different degrees is learning meaningful. The
evolution of man is merely a process by which he proceeds from one degree to the next. He corrects his previous missteps by
stepping forward. This represents a process which is actually incomprehensible in temporal terms, because he RETURNS as he
progresses. (Originally, was "goes forward", rather than "progresses")
T 2 B 47. The Atonement is the device by which he can free himself from the past as he goes ahead. It UNDOES his past errors,
thus making it unnecessary for him to keep retracing his steps without advancing toward his return.
T 2 B 48. In this sense, the Atonement saves time, but, like the miracle which serves it, does not abolish it. As long as there is need
for Atonement, there is need for time. But the Atonement, as a completed plan, does have a unique relationship TO time. Until the
Atonement is finished, its various phases will proceed IN time, but the whole Atonement stands at its end. At this point, the bridge
of the return has been built.
T 2 B 49. (Note to HS. The reason this is upsetting to you is because the Atonement is a TOTAL commitment. You still think this is
associated with loss. This is the same mistake ALL the Separated ones make, in one way or another. They cannot believe that a
defense which CANNOT attack also IS the best defense. Except for this misperception, the angels COULD have helped them. What
do you think "the
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(82) 82
meek shall inherit the earth" MEANS? They will literally take it over because of their strength. A two-way defense is inherently
weak, precisely BECAUSE it has two edges it can turn against the self very unexpectedly. This tendency CANNOT be controlled
EXCEPT by miracles.)
T 2 B 50. The miracle turns the defense of Atonement to the protection of the inner self, which, as it becomes more and more
secure; assumes its natural talent of protecting others. The inner self knows itself as both a brother AND a son.
T 2 B 51. (The above notes were taken with great difficulty by HS, and constitute the only series this far that were written very
slowly. When HS asked about this, she was told, "don't worry about the notes. They are right, but YOU are not sufficiently
Right-Minded yet to write about the Atonement with comfort. You will write about it yet with joy.)
T 2 B 52. (Aside from HS: Last night I felt briefly but intensely depressed, temporarily under the impression that I was abandoned. I
tried, but couldn't get through at all. After a while, I decided to give up for the time being, and He said, "don't worry. I will never
leave or forsake you." I did feel a little better, and decided I was really not sick, so I could return to my exercises. While I was
exercising, I had some part-vision experiences which I found only mildly frightening at times, and quite reassuring at others.
T 2 B 53. I am not too sure of the sequence, but it began with a VERY clear assurance of love, and an equally clear emphasis on my
own great value, beauty, and purity. Things got a little confusing after that. First, the idea of "Bride of Christ" occurred to me with
vaguely inappropriate "undertones". Then there was a repetition of "the way of Love", and a restatement of an earlier experience,
now as if it were FROM Him TO me: "Behold the Handmaid of the Lord; Be it done unto you according to His Word." (This threw
me into panic before, but at that time, it was stated in the more accurate Biblical phrasing: "Be it done unto ME according to HIS
Word."
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This time I was a bit uneasy, but remembered I had misperceived it last time, and was probably still not seeing it right. Actually, it is
really just a statement of allegiance to the Divine Service, which can hardly be dangerous.
T 2 B 54. Then there was a strange sequence, in which Christ seemed to be making very obvious advances, which became quite
sexual in my perception of them. I ALMOST thought briefly that he turned into a devil. I got just a LITTLE scared, and the
possession idea came in for a while, but I thought it SO silly, that there is no point in taking it seriously.
T 2 B 55. (As I am writing this, I remember that thing in the book about the demon lover, which once THROUGH me (note spelling,
"threw") into a fit. I am upset, but the spelling slip is reassuring.
T 2 B 56. This morning we reviewed the whole episode. He said he was "VERY pleased at the COMPARATIVE lack of fear, and
also the concomitant awareness that it WAS misperception. This showed much greater strength, and a much increased
Right-Mindedness. This is because defenses are now being used much better, on behalf of truth MORE than error, though not
completely so.
T 2 B 57. The weaker use of mis-projection is shown by my recognition that it can't REALLY be that way, which became possible
as soon as denial was applied against error, NOT truth. This permitted a much greater awareness of alternative interpretations.
T 2 B 58. It was also explained (the shift to the passive form instead of "He also explained" should be noted. This is an expression
of fear.) "Remember the section in "Letters from the Scattered Brotherhood" you read last evening about "Hold fast," and please do
so."
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(NOTE)
T 2 B 59. (Note made on 11/15 by HS re B's remark concerning top of p.5, 11/13.)
Yes, but I doubt if it says this is inevitable. It may entail more mis-will than we think. The above may have been too passively
interpreted. Note that B. Did NOT ask MY will re same. If he had, HE would have felt better.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(85) 5
11/13
T 2 B 60. You know that when defenses are disrupted there is a period of real disorientation, accompanied by fear, guilt, and usually
vacillations between anxiety and depression. This process is different only in that defenses are not being disrupted, but
re-interpreted, even though it may be experienced as the same thing.
T 2 B 61. In the re-interpretation of defenses, they are not disrupted but their use for ATTACK is lost. Since this means they can be
used only ONE way, they became MUCH stronger, and much more dependable. They no longer oppose the Atonement, but greatly
facilitate it. The Atonement can only be accepted within you.
T 2 B 62. You have perceived it largely as EXTERNAL thus far, and that is why your EXPERIENCE of it has been minimal.
You have been SHOWN the chalice many times, but have not accepted it "for yourself". Your major improper use of defenses is
now largely limited to externalization. Do not fail to appreciate your own remarkable progress in this respect. You perceived it first
as a vessel of some sort whose purpose was uncertain but which might be a pis-pot. You DID notice, however, that the INSIDE was
gold, while the OUTSIDE, though shiny, was silver. This was a recognition of the fact that the INNER part is more precious than
the OUTER side, even though both are resplendent, though with different value.
T 2 B 63. The re-interpretation of defenses is essential to break open the INNER light. Since the Separation, man's defenses have
been used almost entirely to defend themselves AGAINST the Atonement, and thus maintain their separation. They generally see
this as a need to protect the body from external intrusion (or intruding), and this kind of misperception is largely responsible for the
homosexual fallacy, as well as your own pregnancy fears. The so-called "anal" behavior is a distorted attempt to "steal" the
Atonement, and deny its worth by concealing it, and holding onto it with a bodily receptacle, which is regarded as particularly
vicious. "Oral" fantasies are rather similar in purpose, except that they stem more from a sense of deprivation, and insatiable thirst
which results. "Anal" fallacies are more of a refusal to give, while oral fantasies emphasize a distorted need to take. The main
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error in both is the belief that the body can be used as a means for attaining Atonement.
T 2 B 64. Perceiving the body as the Temple is only the first step in correcting this kind of distortion. (HS scalded hand, and looked
for butter to put on. It occurred to her that the Atonement was the cure. Burn appeared to be minimal, and caused little discomfort.)
T 2 B 65. Seeing the body as the Temple alters part of the misperception, but not all of it. It DOES recognize, however, that the
concept of addition or subtraction in PHYSICAL terms is not appropriate. But the next step is to realize that a Temple is not a
building at all. Its REAL holiness lies in the INNER altar, around which the building is built. The inappropriate emphasis which
men have put on beautiful Church BUILDINGS is a sign of their own fear of Atonement, and unwillingness to reach the altar itself.
The REAL beauty of the Temple cannot be seen with the physical eye. The spiritual eye, on the other hand, cannot see the building
at all, but it perceives the altar within with perfect clarity. This is because the spiritual eye has perfect vision.
T 2 B 66. For perfect effectiveness, the chalice of the Atonement belongs at the center of the inner altar, where it undoes the
Separation, and restores the wholeness of the Spirit. Before the Separation, the mind was invulnerable to fear, because fear did not
exist. Both the Separation and the fear were MISCREATIONS of the mind, which have to be undone. This is what the Bible means
by the "Restoration of the Temple". It DOES NOT mean the restoration of the building, but it DOES mean the opening of the altar
to receive the Atonement.
T 2 B 67. This heals the Separation, and places within man the one defense against all Separation-mind errors which can make him
perfectly invulnerable.
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T 2 B 68. The acceptance of the Atonement by everyone is only a matter of time. In fact, both TIME and MATTER were created for
this purpose. This appears to contradict free will, because of the inevitability of this decision. If you review the idea carefully, you
will realize that this is not true. Everything is limited in some way by the manner of its creation. Free will can temporize, and is
capable of enormous procrastination. But it cannot depart entirely from its Creator, who set the limits on its ability to miscreate by
virtue of its own real purpose.
T 2 B 69. The misuse of will engenders a situation which, in the extreme, becomes altogether intolerable. Pain thresholds can be
high, but they are not limitless. Eventually, everybody begins to recognize, however dimly, that there MUST be a better way. As
this recognition is more firmly established, it becomes a perceptual turning-point. This ultimately reawakens the spiritual eye,
simultaneously weakening the investment in physical sight. The alternating investment in the two types or levels of perception is
usually experienced as conflict for a long time, and can become very acute.
T 2 B 70. But the outcome is as certain as God. The spiritual eye literally CANNOT SEE error, and merely looks for Atonement.
All the solutions which the physical eyes seek, dissolve in its sight. The spiritual eye, which looks within, recognizes immediately
that the altar has been defiled, and needs to be repaired and protected. Perfectly aware of the RIGHT defense, it passes over all
others, looking past error to truth. Because of the real strength of ITS vision, it pulls the will into its own service, and forces the
mind to concur. This reestablishes the true power of the will, and makes it increasingly unable to tolerate delay. The mind then
realizes, with increasing certitude, that delay is only a way of increasing unnecessary pain, which it need not tolerate at all. The pain
threshold drops accordingly, and the mind becomes increasingly sensitive to what it would once have regarded as very minor
intrusions of discomfort.
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T 2 B 71. The Children of God are entitled to perfect comfort, which comes from a sense of perfect trust. Until they achieve this,
they waste themselves and their true creative power on useless attempts to make themselves more comfortable by inappropriate
means. But the real means is ALREADY provided, and does not involve any efforts on their part at all. Their egocentricity usually
misperceives this as personally insulting, an interpretation which obviously arises from their misperception of themselves.
Egocentricity and communion cannot coexist. Even the terms themselves are contradictory.
T 2 B 72. The Atonement is the only gift which is worthy of being offered to the Altar of God. This is because of the inestimable
value of the Altar itself. It was created perfect, and is entirely worthy of receiving perfection. God IS lonely without His SOULS,
and THEY are lonely without Him. Remember the "spiritual" (a VERY good term) which begins with "And God stepped down
from Heaven and said: I'M lonely - - I'll make ME a World." The world WAS a way of healing the Separation, and the Atonement is
the GUARANTEE that the device will ultimately do so.
T 2 B 73. (HS request for special message for B. Tell B that his delaying tactics are holding him back. He does not really understand
detachment, distantiation, and withdrawal. He is interpreting them as "holding himself aloof" from the Atonement.)
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T 2 C. Healing as Release from Fear (*N 263 5:112)
T 2 C 1. The new emphasis will now be on healing. The miracle is the means, the Atonement the principle, and the healing is the
result. Those who speak of "the miracle OF healing" are combining two orders of reality inappropriately. Healing is NOT a miracle.
The Atonement, or the final miracle, is a REMEDY. It is purely a means, while any type of healing is a result.
T 2 C 2. The order of error to which Atonement is applied is irrelevant. Essentially, ALL healing is the release from fear. But to
undertake this you cannot be fearful yourself.
T 2 C 3. You do not understand healing because of your own fear. I have been hinting throughout (and once stated very directly,
because you were unfearful at the time) that you MUST heal others. The reason is that their healing merely witnesses or attests to
yours.
T 2 C 4. A major step in the Atonement plan is to undo error at ALL levels. Illness, which is really "not Right Mindedness", is the
result of level confusion in the sense that it always entails the misbelief that what is amiss in one level can adversely affect another.
T 2 C 5. We have constantly referred to miracles as the means of correcting level confusion. In reality, all mistakes must be
corrected at the level at which they occur. Only the mind is capable of error. The body can ACT erroneously, but this is only
because it has responded to mis-Thought. The body cannot create, and the belief that it CAN, a fundamental error responsible for
most of the fallacies already referred to, produces all physical symptoms.
T 2 C 6. All physical illness represents a belief in magic. The whole distortion which created magic rested on the belief that there is
a creative ability in matter, which can control the mind. This fallacy can work either way; i.e., it can be misbelieved either that the
mind can miscreate IN the body, or that the body can miscreate in the mind. If it can be made clear
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that the mind, which is the only level of creation, cannot create beyond itself, then neither confusion need occur.
T 2 C 7. The reason why only the mind can create is more obvious than may be immediately apparent. The Soul has been created.
The body is a learning device FOR the mind. Learning devices are not lessons in themselves. Their purpose is merely to facilitate
the thinking of the learner. The most that a faulty use of a learning device can do is to fail to facilitate. It does not have the power in
itself to introduce actual learning errors.
T 2 C 8. The body, if properly understood, shares the invulnerability of the Atonement to two-edged application. This is not because
the body is a miracle, but because it is not inherently open to misinterpretation. The body is merely a fact. Its ABILITIES can be,
and frequently are, overevaluated. However, it is almost impossible to deny its existence. Those who do are engaging in a
particularly unworthy form of denial. (The use of the word "unworthy" here implies simply that it is not necessary to protect the
mind by denying the un-mindful. There is little doubt that the mind can miscreate. If one denies this unfortunate aspect of its power,
one is also denying the power itself.)
T 2 C 9. All material means which man accepts as remedies for bodily ills are simply restatements of magic principles. It was the
first level of the error to believe that the body created its own illness. Thereafter, it is a second mis-step to attempt to heal it through
non-creative agents. It does not follow, however, that the application of these very weak corrective devices are evil. Sometimes the
illness has sufficiently great a hold over an individual's mind to render him inaccessible to Atonement. In this case, one may be wise
to utilize a compromise approach to mind and body, in which something from the OUTSIDE is temporarily given healing
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belief. This is because the last thing that can help the non-Right-Minded (or the sick) is an increase in fear. They are already in a
fear weakened state. If they are inappropriately exposed to a straight and undiluted miracle, they may be precipitated into panic.
This is particularly likely to occur when upside-down perception has induced the belief that miracles are frightening.
T 2 C 10. The value of the Atonement does not lie in the manner in which it is expressed. In fact, if it is truly used it will inevitably
BE expressed in whatever way is most helpful to the receiver, not the giver. This means that a miracle, to attain its full efficacy,
MUST be expressed in a language which the recipient can understand without fear. It does not follow by any means that this is the
highest level of communication of which he is capable. But it DOES mean that it is the highest level of communication of which he
is capable NOW.
T 2 C 11. The whole aim of the miracle is to RAISE the level of communication, not to impose regression (as improperly used)
upon it. Before it is safe to let miracle workers loose in this world, it is essential that they understand fully the fear of release.
Otherwise, they may unwittingly foster the misbelief that release is imprisonment, which is very prevalent. This misperception arose
from the attempted protection device (or misdefense) that harm can be limited to the body. This was because of the much greater
fear (which this one counteracts) that the mind can hurt itself. Neither error is really meaningful, because the miscreations of the
mind do not really exist. That recognition is a far better protection device than any form of level confusion, because of the
advantages of introducing correction at the level of the error.
T 2 C 12. It is essential that the remembrance of the fact that ONLY mind can create at all remain with you. Implicit in this is the
corollary that correction belongs at the thought level, and NOT at either level
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to which creation is inapplicable. To repeat an earlier statement, and also to extend it somewhat, the Soul is already perfect, and
therefore does not require correction. The body does not really exist, except as a learning device for the mind. This learning device
is not subject to errors of its own, because it was created, but is NOT creating.
It should be obvious, then, that correcting the creator (or inducing it to give up miscreation) is the only application of creation which
is inherently meaningful at all.
T 2 C 13. We said before that magic is essentially mindless, or the destructive (miscreated) use of mind. Physical medicines are a
form of "spells." In one way, they are a more benign form, in that they do not entail the possession fallacy which DOES enter when
a mind believes that it can possess another. Since this is considerably less dangerous, though still incorrect, it has its advantages. It
is particularly helpful to the therapist who really wants to heal, but is still fearful himself. By using physical means to do so, he is
not engaging in any form of enslavement, even though he is not applying the Atonement. This means that his mind is dulled by fear,
but is not actively engaged in distortion.
T 2 C 14. Those who are afraid of using the mind to heal are right in avoiding it, because the very fact that they are afraid HAS
made them vulnerable to miscreation. They are therefore likely to misunderstand any healing they might induce, and, because
egocentricity and fear usually occur together, may be unable to accept the real Source of the healing. Under these conditions, it is
safer for them to rely TEMPORARILY on physical healing devices, because they cannot misperceive them as their own creations.
As long as their own vulnerability persists, it is essential to preserve them from even attempting miracles.
T 2 C 15. We said in a previous section that the miracle is an expression of miracle-Mindedness. Miracle-Mindedness merely means
Right-Mindedness in the sense that we are now using it. Right-Mindedness neither exalts nor depreciates
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the mind of the miracle worker nor of the miracle receiver. However, as a creative act, the miracle need not await the Right-Mindedness
of the receiver. In fact, its purpose is to restore him TO his Right Mind. But it is essential that the miracle worker be in his
Right Mind, or he will be unable to reestablish Right-Mindedness in someone else.
T 2 C 16. The healer who relies on his own readiness is endangering his understanding. He is perfectly safe as long as he is
completely unconcerned about HIS readiness, but maintains a consistent trust in MINE. (Errors of this kind produce some very
erratic behavior, which usually point up an underlying unwillingness to co-operate. Note that by inserting the carbon backwards, B.
created a situation in which two copies did not exist. This reflected two levels of confidence lack, one in My readiness to heal, and
the other in his own willingness to give.) These errors inevitably introduce inefficiency into the miracle worker's behavior, and
temporarily disrupt his miracle-mindedness. We might also make very similar comments about your own hesitation about dictating
at all. This is a larger error only because it results in greater inefficiency. If you don't say anything, nobody can use it, including Me.
We have established that for all corrective processes, the first step is know that this is fear. Unless fear had entered, the corrective
procedure would never have become necessary. If your miracle working propensities are not working, it is always because fear has
intruded on your Right-Mindedness, and has literally upset it. (i.e. turned it upside-down).
T 2 C 17. All forms of not-Right-Mindedness are the result of refusal to accept the Atonement FOR YOURSELF. If the miracle
worker DOES accept it, he places himself in the position to recognize that those who need to be healed are simply those who have
NOT done so. The reason why you felt the vast radiation range of your own inner illumination is because you were aware that your
Right-Mindedness IS healing.
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The sole responsibility of the miracle worker is to accept Atonement himself. This means that he knows that mind is the only
creative level, and that its errors ARE healed by the Atonement. Once he accepts this, HIS mind can only heal. By denying his mind
any destructive potential, and reinstating its purely constructive powers, he has placed himself in a position where he can undo the
level confusion of others. The message which he then gives to others is the truth that THEIR MINDS are really similarly
constructive, and that their own miscreations cannot hurt them. By affirming this, the miracle worker releases the mind from
overevaluating its own learning device (the body), and restores the mind to its true position as the learner. It should be
re-emphasized that the body does not learn, any more than it creates. As a learning device, it merely follows the learner, but if it is
falsely endowed with self initiative, it becomes a serious obstruction to the learning it should facilitate.
T 2 C 18. ONLY the mind is capable of illumination. The Soul is already illuminated, and the body in itself is too dense. The mind,
however, can BRING its own illumination TO the body by recognizing that density is the opposite of intelligence, and therefore
unamenable to independent learning. It is, however, easily brought into alignment with a mind which has learned to look beyond
density toward light.
T 2 C 19. Corrective learning always begins with awakening the spiritual eye, and turning away from belief in physical sight. The
reason this entails fear is because man is afraid of what his spiritual eye will see, which was why he closed it in the first place. We
said before that the spiritual eye cannot see error, and is capable only of looking beyond it to the defense of Atonement. There is no
doubt that the spiritual eye does produce extreme discomfort by what it sees. The thing that man forgets is that the discomfort
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is not the final outcome of its perception. When the spiritual eye is permitted to look upon the defilement of the altar, it also looks
immediately toward Atonement. Nothing which the spiritual eye perceives can induce fear. Everything that results from accurate
spiritual awareness merely is channelized toward correction. Discomfort is aroused only to bring the need to correct forcibly into
awareness.
T 2 C 20. What the physical eye sees is not corrective, nor can it be corrected by any device which can be physically seen. As long
as a man believes in what his physical sight tells him, all his corrective behavior will be misdirected. The reason why the real vision
is obscured is because man cannot endure to see his own defiled altar. But since the altar has BEEN defiled, this fact becomes
doubly dangerous unless it IS perceived. This perception is totally non-threatening because of the Atonement. The fear of healing
arises in the end from an unwillingness to accept the unequivocal fact that healing is necessary. The fear arises because of the
necessary willingness to look at what man has done to himself.
T 2 C 21. Healing was an ability which was lent to man after the Separation, before which it was completely unnecessary. Like all
aspects of the space-time belief, healing ability is temporary. However, as long as time persists, healing remains among the stronger
human protections. This is because healing always rests on charity, and charity is a way of perceiving the true perfection of another,
even if he cannot perceive it himself. Most of the loftier concepts of which man is capable now are time-dependent. Charity is really
a weaker reflection of a much more powerful love-encompassment, which is far beyond any form of charity that man can conceive
of as yet. Charity is essential to Right-Mindedness, in the limited sense to which Right-Mindedness can now be attained. Charity is
a way of looking at another AS IF he had already gone far beyond his actual accomplishment in time. Since his own thinking is
faulty, he cannot see the Atonement himself, or he would have no need for charity at all. The charity which is accorded him is both
an acknowledgment that he IS weak, and a recognition that he COULD BE stronger. The way in which both of these beliefs are
stated clearly implies their dependence on time, making it quite apparent that charity lies within the framework of human
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limitations, though toward the higher levels.
T 2 C 22. We said before, twice in fact, that only Revelation transcends time. The miracle, as an expression of true human charity,
can only shorten it a best. It must be understood, however, that whenever a man offers a miracle to another, he IS shortening the
suffering of both. This introduces a correction into the Record, which corrects retroactively as well as progressively.
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T 2 D. Fear as Lack of Love (*N 265 5:114)
T 2 D 1. You and B. both believe that "being afraid" is involuntary. But I have told you many times that only CONSTRUCTIVE
acts should be involuntary. We said that Christ-control can take over everything that DOESN'T matter, and Christ-guidance can
direct everything that DOES, if you so will.
T 2 D 2. Fear cannot be Christ-controlled, but it CAN be self-controlled. Fear is always associated with what does not matter. It
prevents Me from controlling it. The correction is therefore a matter of YOUR will, because its presence shows that you have raised
the UNIMPORTANT to a higher level than it warrants. You have thus brought it under your will, where it DOES NOT belong. This
means YOU feel responsible for it. The level confusion here is perfectly obvious.
T 2 D 3. The reason that I cannot CONTROL fear for you is that you are attempting to raise to the mind level the proper content of
the lower-order reality. I do NOT foster level confusion, but YOU can will to correct it.
T 2 D 4. You would not tolerate insane behavior on your part, and would hardly advance the excuse that you could not help it. Why
should you tolerate insane thinking? There is a fallacy here you would do well to look at clearly.
T 2 D 5. You both believe that you ARE responsible for what you DO, but NOT for what you THINK. The truth is that you ARE
responsible for what you THINK, because it is only at this level that you CAN exercise choice. What you DO comes from what you
think. You cannot separate the truth by giving autonomy to your behavior. This is controlled by Me automatically, as soon as you
place what you think under my guidance.
T 2 D 6. Whenever you are afraid, it is a sure sign that you have allowed your mind to miscreate, i.e., have NOT allowed Me to
guide it. It is pointless to believe that controlling the outcome of mis-Thought
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can result in real healing. When you are fearful, you have willed wrongly. This is why you feel you are responsible for it.
T 2 D 7. You must change your MIND, not your behavior, and this IS a matter of will. You do not need guidance EXCEPT at the
mind-level. Correction belongs ONLY at the level where creation is possible. The term does not really mean anything at the
symptom-level, where it cannot work.
T 2 D 8. The correction of fear IS your responsibility. When you ask for release from fear, you are implying that it isn't. You should
ask, instead, for help in the conditions which have brought the fear about. This condition always entails a separated
Mind-willingness. At this level, you CAN help it.
T 2 D 9. You are much too tolerant of Mind-wandering, thus passively condoning its miscreation. The particular result never
matters, but this fundamental error DOES. The fundamental correction is always the same. Before you will to do anything, ask Me
if your will is in accord with Mine. If you are sure that it IS, there will BE no fear.
T 2 D 10. Fear is always a sign of strain, which arises whenever the WILL to do conflicts with WHAT you do. This situation arises
in two major ways:
1) You can will to do conflicting things, either simultaneously or successively. This produces conflicting behavior, which would be
tolerable to the self (though not necessarily to others) except for the fact that the part of the will that wants something ELSE is
outraged.
2)You can BEHAVE as you think you should, but without entirely WILLING to do so. This produces consistent behavior, but
entails great strain WITHIN the self.
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T 2 D 11. If you think about it, you will realize that in both cases the will and the behavior are out-of-accord, resulting in a situation
in which you are doing what you do NOT will. This arouses a sense of coercion, which usually produces rage. The anger then
invades the mind, and projection in the wrong sense becomes likely. Depression or anxiety are virtually certain.
T 2 D 12. Remember that whenever there is fear, it is because YOU have NOT MADE UP YOUR MIND. Your will is split, and
your behavior inevitably becomes erratic. Correcting at the behavior level can shift the error from the first type to the second, but
will NOT obliterate the fear.
T 2 D 13. It is possible to reach a state in which you bring your will under my guidance without much conscious effort, but this
implies the kind of habit pattern which neither you nor B. has developed dependably as yet.
T 2 D 14. Tell B. that although he keeps telling you that God will never ask you to do more than you can, he does not understand it
himself. God CANNOT ask more than you WILL. The strength to DO comes from your own undivided will to do. There is NO
strain in doing God's will as soon as it is also your own.
T 2 D 15. The lesson here is quite simple, but particularly apt to be overlooked. I will therefore repeat it, URGING you to listen.
Only your mind can produce fear. It does so whenever it is conflicted in what it wills, thus producing inevitable strain, because
willing and doing become discordant. This CANNOT be corrected by better DOING. But it CAN be corrected by higher WILLING.
T 2 E. The Correction for Lack of Love (*N 271 T(5:120)
T 2 E 1. After taking the first corrective step, i.e., "Knowing it IS fear," you might benefit temporarily by adding another next step
BEFORE going on with the corrective process. Try saying to yourself that you MUST have willed not to love somehow or
somewhere, or that fear which arises from behavior-will conflict could not have happened. Then follow previous instructions.
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T 2 E 2. If you consider what the process really means, it is nothing more than a series of pragmatic steps in the larger process of
accepting the Atonement as THE remedy. From this viewpoint, the steps can be reworded as follows:
1.) Know first this is fear.
2.) Fear arises from lack of love.
3.) The ONLY remedy for lack of love is perfect love.
4.) Perfect love IS the Atonement.
T 2 E 3. The final procedural step T(3) is inherent in the last statement T(4). We have emphasized that the miracle, or the EXPRESSION of
Atonement, is always a sign of real respect from the worthy TO the worthy. This worth IS re-established by the Atonement.
T 2 E 4. It is obvious, then, that when you are afraid you have placed yourself in a position where you NEED Atonement
BECAUSE you have DONE something loveless because you WILLED without love. This is precisely the situation for which the
Atonement was offered. The need for the remedy inspired its CREATION.
T 2 E 5. As long as you recognize only the NEED for the remedy, you will remain fearful. However, as soon as you REMEDY it,
you have also abolished the fear. This is how TRUE healing occurs.
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T 2 E 6. Everyone experiences fear, and nobody enjoys it. Yet, it would take very little Right-thinking to know why it occurs.
Neither you nor B. have thought about it very much, either. T( I object at this point to the use of plural verb with a properly singular
subject - - HS - - and remember that last time in a very similar sentence, He said it correctly and I remembered it with real pleasure.
This real grammatical error makes me suspicious of the genuineness of these notes. ANSWER: What it really shows is that YOU
are not very receptive. The reason it came out that way, is because you are projecting (in the inappropriate way) your own anger,
which has nothing to do with these notes. YOU made the error, because you are not feeling loving, so you want me to sound silly,
so you won't have to pay attention. Actually, I am trying to get through against considerable opposition, because you are not very
happy, and I wish you were. I thought I'd take a chance, even though you are so resistant, because I MIGHT be able to make you
feel better. You may be unable not to attack at all, but do try to listen a little, too.)
T 2 E 7. Very few people appreciate the real power of the mind. Nobody remains fully aware of it all the time. This is inevitable in
this world, because the human being has many things he must do, and cannot engage in constant thought-watching. However, if he
hopes to spare himself from fear, there are some things he must realize, and realize them fully, at least some of the time.
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T 2 E 8. The mind is a very powerful creator, and it never loses its creative force. It never sleeps. Every instant it is creating, and
ALWAYS as you will. Many of your ordinary expressions reflect this. For example, when you say "don't give it a thought", you are
implying that if you do not think about something, it will have no effect on you. This is true enough.
T 2 E 9. On the other hand, many other expressions are clear expressions of the prevailing LACK of awareness of thought-power.
For example, you say, "just an idle thought", and mean that the thought has no effect. You also speak of some actions as
"thoughtless", implying that if the person HAD thought, he would not have behaved as he did. You also use phrases like "thought
provoking", which is bland enough, but the term "a provoking thought" means something quite different.
T 2 E 10. While expressions like "think big" give some recognition to the power of thought, they still come nowhere near the truth.
You do not expect to grow when you say it, because you don't really believe it. It is hard to recognize that thought and belief
combine into a power-surge that can literally move mountains.
T 2 E 11. It appears at first glance that to believe such power about yourself is merely arrogant, but that is not the real reason why
you don't believe it.
T 2 E 12. People prefer to believe that their thoughts cannot exert real control because they are literally AFRAID of them.
Therapists try to help people who are afraid of their own death wishes by depreciating the power of the wish. They even attempt to
"free" the patient by persuading him that he can think whatever he wants, without ANY real effect at all.
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T 2 E 13. There is a real dilemma here, which only the truly right-minded can escape. Death wishes do not kill in the physical sense,
but they DO kill spiritually. ALL destructive thinking is dangerous. Given a death wish, a man has no choice except to ACT upon
his thought, or behave CONTRARY TO it. He can thus choose ONLY between homicide and fear. (See previous notes on will
conflicts.) (NOTE I avoided this term in the last series of notes intentionally, because it seemed too Rankian. Apparently, there was
a reason why this word should have been used last time. It is used in this section for a very good reason.)
T 2 E 14. The other possibility is that he depreciates the power of his thought. This is the usual psychoanalytic approach. This
DOES allay guilt, but at the cost of rendering thinking impotent. If you believe that what you think is ineffectual, you may cease to
be overly afraid of it, but you are hardly likely to respect it, either. The world is full of endless examples of how man has
depreciated himself because he is afraid of his own thoughts. In some forms of insanity, thoughts are glorified, but this is only
because the underlying depreciation was too effective for tolerance.
T 2 E 15. The truth is that there ARE no "idle thoughts". ALL thinking produces form at some level. The reason why people are
afraid of ESP, and so often react against it, is because they KNOW that thought can hurt them. Their OWN thoughts have made
them vulnerable.
T 2 E 16. You and B., who complain all the time about fear, still persist in creating it most of the time. I told you last time that you
cannot ask ME to release you from it, because I KNOW it does not exist. YOU don't. If I merely intervene between your thoughts
and their results, I would be tampering with a basic law of cause and effect, in fact the most fundamental one there is in this world.
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I would hardly help if I depreciated the power of your own thinking. This would be in direct opposition to the purpose of this
course.
T 2 E 17. It is certainly much more useful to remind you that you do not guard your thoughts at all carefully, except for a relatively
small part of the day, and somewhat inconsistently even then. You may feel at this point that it would take a miracle to enable you
to do this, which is perfectly true. Human beings are not used to miraculous thinking, but they CAN be TRAINED to think that way.
T 2 E 18. All miracle-workers HAVE to be trained that way. I have to be able to count on them. This means that I cannot allow
them to leave their mind unguarded, or they will not be able to help me. Miracle-working entails a full realization of the power of
thought, and real avoidance of miscreation. Otherwise, the miracle will be necessary to set the mind ITSELF straight, a circular
process which would hardly foster the time-collapse for which the miracle was intended. Nor would it induce the healthy respect
that every miracle-worker must have for true cause and effect.
T 2 E 19. Miracles cannot free the miracle-worker from fear. Both miracles AND fear come from his thoughts, and if he were not
free to choose one, he would also not be free to choose the other. Remember, we said before that when electing one person, you
reject another.
T 2 E 20. It is much the same in electing the miracle. By so doing, you HAVE rejected fear. Fear cannot assail unless it has been
created. You and B. have been afraid of God, of me, of yourselves, and of practically everyone you know at one time or another.
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This can only be because you have miscreated all of us, and believe in what you have created. (We spent a lot of time on this before,
but it did not help very much.) You would never have done this if you were not afraid of your own thoughts. The vulnerable are
essentially miscreators, because they misperceive Creation.
T 2 E 21. You and B. are willing to accept primarily what does NOT change your minds too much, and leaves you free to leave
them quite unguarded most of the time. You persist in believing that when you do not consciously watch your mind, it is unmindful.
T 2 E 22. It is time to consider the whole world of the unconscious, or unwatched mind. This will frighten you, because it is the
source of fright. You may look at it as a new theory of basic conflict, if you wish, which will not be entirely an intellectual
approach, because I doubt if the truth will escape you entirely.
T 2 E 23. The unwatched mind is responsible for the whole content of the unconscious, which lies above the miracle-level. All
psychoanalytic theorists have made some contribution to the truth in this connection, but none of them has seen it in its true entirety.
(The correct grammar here is a sign of your better cooperation. Thank you.) Jung's best contribution was an awareness of individual
vs. collective unconscious levels. He also recognized the major place of the religious spirit in his schema. His archetypes were also
meaningful concepts. But his major error lay in regarding the deepest level of the unconscious as shared in terms of CONTENT.
The deepest level of the unconscious is shared as an ABILITY. As MIRACLE-MINDEDNESS, the content, (or the particular
miracles which an individual happens to perform) does not matter at all.
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They will, in fact, be entirely different, because, since I direct them, I make a point of avoiding redundancy. Unless a miracle
actually heals, it is not a miracle at all.
T 2 E 24. The content of the miracle-level is not recorded in the individual's unconscious, because if it were, it would not be
automatic and involuntary, which we have said repeatedly it should be. However, the content IS a matter for the record, which is
NOT within the individual himself.
T 2 E 25. All psychoanalysts made one common error, in that they attempted to uncover unconscious CONTENT. You cannot
understand unconscious activity in these terms, because "content" is applicable ONLY to the more superficial unconscious levels to
which the individual himself contributes. This is the level at which he can readily introduce fear, and usually does.
T 2 E 26. Freud was right in calling this level pre-conscious, and emphasizing that there is a fairly easy interchange between
preconscious and conscious material. He was also right in regarding the censor as an agent for the protection of consciousness from
fear. HIS major error lay in his insistence that this level is necessary at all in the psychic structure. If the psyche contains fearful
levels from which it cannot escape without splitting, its integration is permanently threatened. It is essential not to control the
fearful, but to ELIMINATE it.
T 2 E 27. Here, Rank's concept of the will was particularly good, except that he preferred to ally it only with man's own truly
creative ability, but did not extend it to its proper union with God's. His "birth trauma", another valid idea, was also too limited, in
that it did not refer to the Separation, which was really a FALSE idea of birth. Physical birth is not
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a trauma in itself. It can, however, remind the individual of the Separation, which was a very real cause of fear.
T 2 E 28. The idea of "will-THERAPY" was potentially a very powerful one, but Rank did not see its real potential because he
himself used his mind partly to create a theory OF the mind, but also partly to attack Freud. His reactions to Freud stemmed from
his own unfortunate acceptance of the deprivation-fallacy, which itself arose from the Separation. This led him to believe that his
own mind-creation could stand only if the creation of another's fell. In consequence, his theory emphasized rather than minimized
the two-edged nature of defenses. This is an outstanding characteristic of his concepts, because it was outstandingly true of him.
T 2 E 29. He also misinterpreted the birth-trauma in a way that made it inevitable for him to attempt a therapy whose goal was to
ABOLISH FEAR. This characteristic of all later theorists, who do not attempt, as Freud did, to split off the fear in his own form of
therapy.
T 2 E 30. No-one as yet has fully recognized either the therapeutic value of fear, or the only way in which it can be truly ended.
When man miscreates, he IS in pain. The cause and effect principle here is temporarily a real expeditor. Actually, Cause is a term
properly belonging to God, and Effect, which should also be capitalized, is HIS Sonship. This entails a set of cause and effect
relationships which are totally different from those which man introduced into the Miscreation.
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T 2 E 31. The fundamental opponents in the real basic conflict are Creation and miscreation. All fear is implicit in the second, just
as all love is inherent in the first. Because of this difference, the basic conflict IS one between love and fear.
T 2 E 32. So much, then, for the true nature of the major opponents in the basic conflict. Since all such theories lead to a form of
therapy in which a re-distribution of psychic energy results, it is necessary to consider OUR concept of libido next. In this respect,
Freud was more accurate than his followers, who were essentially more wishful. Energy CAN emanate from both Creation AND
miscreation, and the particular ratio between them which prevails at a given point in time DOES determine behavior AT that time. If
miscreation did NOT engender energy in its own right, it would be unable to produce destructive behavior, which it very patently
DOES.
T 2 E 33. Everything that man creates has energy because, like the Creation of God, they (it) come FROM energy, and are endowed
by their creator with the power to create. Miscreation is still a genuine creative act in terms of the underlying IMPULSE, but NOT
in terms of the CONTENT of the creation. This, however, does not deprive the creation of its OWN creative power. It DOES,
however, GUARANTEE that the power will be misused, or USED FEARFULLY.
T 2 E 34. To deny this is merely the previously mentioned fallacy of depreciation. Although Freud made a number of fallacies of his
own, he DID avoid this one in connection with libido. The later theorists denied the split-energy concept, not by attempting to heal
it, but by re-interpreting it instead of
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redistributing it.
T 2 E 35. This placed them in the illogical position of assuming that the split which their therapies were intended to heal had not
occurred. The result of this approach is essentially a form of hypnosis. This is quite different from Freud's approach, which merely
ended in a deadlock.
T 2 E 36. A similar deadlock occurs when both the power of Creation and of miscreation coexist. This is experienced as conflict
only because the individual feels AS IF both were occurring AT THE SAME LEVEL. He BELIEVES in what he has created in his
own unconscious and he naturally believes it is real BECAUSE he created it. He, thus, places himself in a position where the fearful
becomes REAL.
T 2 E 37. Nothing but level-confusion can result as long as this belief is held in ANY form. Inappropriate denial and equally
inappropriate identification of the REAL factors in the basic conflict will NOT solve the problem itself. The conflict CANNOT
disappear until it is fully recognized that miscreation is NOT real, and therefore there IS no conflict. This entails a full realization of
the basic fact that, although man has miscreated in a very real sense, he need neither continue to do so, nor to suffer from his past
errors in this respect.
T 2 E 38. A REDISTRIBUTION of psychic energy, then, is NOT the solution. Both the idea that both kinds MUST exist, and the
belief that ONE kind is amenable for use or misuse, are real distortions. The ONLY way is to STOP MISCREATING NOW, and
accept the Atonement for miscreations of the past.
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Only this can re-establish true single-mindedness. The structure of the psyche, as you very correctly noted yourself, follows along
the lines of the particular libido concept the theorist employs. (I still think it was the other way around - - HS. Answer: This
confusion arises out of the fact that you DID change the order - - several times in fact. Actually, it didn't matter, because the two
concepts DO flow from each other. It was a TERRIFIC waste of time, and one in which I hardly care to become engaged myself.
PLEASE!)
T 2 E 39. Freud's psyche was essentially a good and evil picture, with very heavy weight given to the evil. This is because every
time I mentioned the Atonement to him, which was quite often, he responded by defending his theory more and more against it. This
resulted in his increasingly strong attempts to make the illogical sound more and more logical.
T 2 E 40. I was very sorry about this, because his was a singularly good mind, and it was a shame to waste it. However, the major
purpose of his incarnation was not neglected. He DID succeed in forcing recognition of the unconscious into man's calculations
about himself, a step in the right direction which should not be minimized. Freud was one of the most religious men I have known
recently. Unfortunately, he was so afraid of religion that the only way he could deal with it was to regard IT (not himself) as sick.
This naturally prevented healing.
T 2 E 41. Freud's superego is a particularly interesting example of the real power of miscreation. It is noteworthy throughout the
whole development of his theories that the superego never allied itself with freedom. The most it could do in this direction was to
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(111) 110
work out a painful truce in which both opponents LOST. This perception could not fail to force him to emphasize discontent in his
view of civilization.
T 2 E 42. The Freudian id is really only the more superficial level of the unconscious, and not the deepest level at all. This, too, was
inevitable, because Freud could not divorce miracles from magic. It was therefore his constant endeavor, (even preoccupation) to
keep on thrusting more and more material between consciousness and the real deeper level of the unconscious, so that the latter
became increasingly obscured. The result was a kind of bedlam, in which there was no order, no control, and no sense. This was
exactly how he FELT about it.
T 2 E 43. The later theoretical switch to the primacy of anxiety was an interesting device intended to deny both the instinctive nature
of destructiveness, and the force of the power of miscreation. By placing the emphasis on the RESULT, the generative nature of the
power was minimized.
T 2 E 44. Destructive behavior IS instinctual. The instinct for creation is NOT obliterated in miscreation. That is why it is always
invested with reality. One of the chief ways in which man can correct his magic-miracle confusion is to remember that he did not
create himself. He is apt to forget this when he becomes egocentric, and this places him in a position where belief in magic is
virtually inevitable. His instincts for creation were given him by his own Creator, who was expressing the same instinct in His
Creation. Since the creative ability rests solely in the mind, everything which man creates is necessarily instinctive.
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IV Nov. 20 '65
T 2 E 45. (This goes after basic conflict theory.) (Dictated without notes by HS)
T 2 E 46. We have already said that the basic conflict is one between love and fear, and that the proper organization of the psyche
rests on a lack of level confusion. The section on psychic energy should be re-read very carefully, because it is particularly likely to
be misinterpreted until this section is complete.
T 2 E 47. It has already been said that man CANNOT control fear, because he himself created it. His belief in it renders it out of his
control by definition. For this reason, any attempt to resolve the basic conflict through the concept of mastery of fear is meaningless.
In fact, it asserts the power of fear by the simple assumption that it need be mastered at all.
T 2 E 48. The essential resolution rests entirely on the mastery of love. In the interim, conflict is inevitable. The reason for this is the
strangely illogical position in which man had placed himself. Since we have frequently emphasized that correction must be applied
within the level that error occurs, it should be clear that the miracle MUST be illogical because its purpose is to correct the illogical
and restore order.
T 2 E 49. Two concepts which CANNOT coexist are nothing and everything. To whatever extent one is believed in, the other HAS
BEEN abolished. In the conflict, fear is really nothing, and love is really everything. (This recognition is really the basis for the
castration complex.) This is because whenever light penetrates darkness, it DOES abolish it. The unwillingness to be seen, or submit
error to light, is spuriously associated with active doing. In this incarnation, this can take the form of oedipal involvement and
concomitant castration anxiety.
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T 2 E 50. However, in more long range and meaningful terms, the oedipal complex is a miniature of the true Separation fear, and the
castration complex is a way of denying that it ever occurred. Like all pseudo-solutions, this kind of distorted thinking is very
creative, but false. The Separation HAS occurred. To deny this is merely to misuse denial. However, to concentrate on error is
merely a further misuse of legitimate psychic mechanisms. The true corrective procedure, which has already been described as the
proper use of the spiritual eye (or true vision), is to accept the error temporarily, BUT ONLY as an indication that IMMEDIATE
correction is mandatory. This establishes a state of mind in which the Atonement can be accepted without delay.
T 2 E 51. It is worth repeating that ultimately there is no compromise possible between everything and nothing. The purpose of time
is essentially a device by which all compromise in this respect can be abolished. It seems to be abolished by degrees precisely
because time itself involves a concept of intervals which do not really exist. The faulty use of creation has made this necessary as a
corrective device.
T 2 E 52. "And God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son so that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but
have Eternal Life" needs only one slight correction to be entirely meaningful in this context. It should read "And God so loved the
world that he gave it TO His only begotten Son." It should be noted that God HAS begotten only ONE Son.
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If you believe that all of the Souls that God created ARE His Sons, and if you also believe that the Sonship is One, then every Soul
MUST be a Son of God , or an integral part of the Sonship. You do not find the concept that the whole is greater than its parts
difficult to understand. You should therefore not have too great difficulty with this. The Sonship in its Oneness DOES transcend the
sum of its parts. However, it loses this special state as long as any of its parts are missing. This is why the conflict cannot ultimately
be resolved UNTIL all of the individual parts of the Sonship have returned. Only then, in the true sense, can the meaning of
wholeness be understood.
T 2 E 53. The concept of minus numbers has always been regarded as a mathematical rather than an actual expedient. (This is a
major limitation on mathematics as presently understood.) Any statement which implies degrees of difference in negation is
essentially meaningless. What can replace this negative approach is a recognition of the fact that as long as one part (which is the
same as a million or ten or eight thousand parts) of the Sonship is missing, it is NOT complete.
T 2 E 54. In the Divine psyche, the Father and the Holy Spirit are not incomplete at all. The Sonship has the unique faculty of
believing in error, or incompleteness, if he so elects. However, it is quite apparent that so to elect IS to believe in the existence of
nothingness. The correction of this error
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is the Atonement.
T 2 E 55. We have already briefly spoken about readiness. But there are some additional awarenesses which might be helpful.
Readiness is nothing more than the prerequisite for accomplishment. The two should not be confused. As soon as a state of
readiness occurs, there is always some will to accomplish, but this is by no means undivided. The state does not imply more than the
potential for a shift of will. Confidence cannot develop fully until mastery has been accomplished. We began this section with an
attempt to correct the fundamental human error that fear can be mastered. The Correction was that ONLY love can be mastered.
When I told you that you were "ready for Revelation", I did not mean that you had in any way mastered this form of
communication. However, you yourself attested to your readiness by insisting that I would not have said so if it had not been true.
This IS an affirmation of readiness. Mastery of love necessarily involves a much more complete confidence in the ability than either
of you has attained. But the readiness at least is an indication that you believe this is possible. This is only the beginning of
confidence.
T 2 E 56. In case this be misunderstood as a statement that an enormous amount of time will be necessary between readiness and
mastery, I would again remind you that time and space are under My control.
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(Dictated without notes by HS)
T 2 E 57. One of the chief ways in which man can correct his magic-miracle confusion is to remember that he did not create
himself. He is apt to forget this when he becomes egocentric, and this places him in a position where belief in magic is virtually
inevitable. His instincts for creation were given him by his own Creator, who was expressing the same instinct in His Creation.
Since the creative ability rests solely in the mind, everything which man creates is necessarily instinctive.
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T 2 E 58. It also follows that whatever he creates is real in his own eyes, but not necessarily in the sight of God. This basic
distinction leads us directly into the real meaning of the Last Judgment. (I am aware of the fact that you would much rather continue
with the parallels involved in other theories of basic conflict. However, this would merely be a delay which we will engage in only
if you regard it as essential.)
T 2 F. The Meaning of the Last Judgment (*N not present in the Notes)
T 2 F 1. The Final Judgment is one of the greatest threat concepts in man's perception. This is only because he does not understand
it. Judgment is not an essential attribute of God. Man brought judgment into being only because of the Separation. God Himself is
still the God of mercy. After the Separation, however, there WAS a place for justice in the schema, because it was one of the many
learning devices which had to be built into the overall plan. Just as the Separation occurred over many millions of years, the Last
Judgment will extend over a similarly long period, and perhaps even longer. Its length depends, however, on the effectiveness of the
present speed-up. We have frequently noted that the miracle is a device for shortening but not abolishing time. If a sufficient
number of people become truly miracle-minded quickly, the shortening process can be almost immeasurable. But it is essential that
these individuals free themselves from fear sooner than would ordinarily be the case, because they MUST emerge from basic
conflict it they are to bring peace to the minds of others.
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T 2 F 2. The Last Judgment is generally thought of as a procedure undertaken by God. Actually, it will be undertaken solely by man,
with My help. It is a Final Healing, rather than a meting out of punishment, however much man may think punishment is deserved.
Punishment as a concept is in total opposition to Right-Mindedness. The aim of the Final Judgment is to RESTORE
Right-Mindedness TO man.
T 2 F 3. The Final Judgment might be called a process of Right-evaluation. It simply means that finally all men must come to
understand what is worthy and what is not. After this, their ability to choose can be reasonably directed. Unless this distinction has
been made, the vacillations between free and imprisoned will cannot but continue. The first step toward freedom, then, MUST entail
a sorting out of the false from the true. This is a process of division only in the constructive sense, and reflects the true meaning of
the Apocalypse. Man will ultimately look upon his own creations, and will to preserve only what is good, just as God Himself once
looked upon what he had created, and knew that it WAS good. At this point, the Will will begin to look with love on its creations,
because of their great worthiness. The mind will inevitably disown its miscreations, and having withdrawn belief from them, they
will no longer exist.
T 2 F 4. The term Last Judgment is frightening, not only because it has been falsely projected onto God, but also because of the
association of "Last" with death. This is an outstanding example of upside-down perception. Actually, if it is examined objectively,
it is quite apparent that it is really the doorway to life. No man who lives in fear is really alive.
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T 2 F 5. His own final judgment cannot be directed toward himself, because he is not his own creation. He can apply it
meaningfully, and at any time, to everything he has ever created, and retain in his real memory only what is good. This is what his
own Right-Mindedness CANNOT BUT dictate. The purpose of time is solely to "give him time" to achieve this judgment. It is his
own perfect judgment of his own creation. When everything that he retains is lovable, there is no reason for any fear to remain in
him. This IS his part in the Atonement.
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CHAPTER 3 – RETRAINING THE MIND
T 3 A. Introduction (*N 296 5:145)
T 3 A 1. All learning involves attention and study at some level. This course is a MIND-TRAINING course. Good students assign
study periods for themselves. However, since this obvious step has not occurred to you, and since we are cooperating in this, I will
make the obvious assignment now.
T 3 A 2. B is better at understanding the need to study the notes than you are, but neither of you realizes that many of the problems
you keep being faced with may ALREADY have been solved there. YOU do not think of the notes in this way at all. B DOES from
time to time, but he generally says, "Its probably in the notes," and DOESN't look it up. He believes that, although he reads them
over, they cannot REALLY help him until they are complete.
T 3 A 3. First of all, he cannot be sure of this unless he tries. Second, they would BE completed if both of you so willed.
T 3 A 4. You vaguely know that the course is intended for some sort of preparation. I can only say that you are not prepared.
T 3 A 5. I was amused when you reminded B. that he, too, was being prepared for something quite unexpected, and he said, he was
not at all curious about what it was. This disinterest is very characteristic of him when he is afraid. Interest and fear do NOT go
together, as your respective behavior clearly shows.
T 3 A 6. Mental retardation is a defense which, like the others EXCEPT the Atonement, can be used on behalf of error or truth, as
elected. When it occurs in REALITY, it is a temporary device, agreed on beforehand, to check the miscreative abilities of strong but
misdirected wills.
T 3 A 7. It is necessary that this appropriate use of the defense BE considered real, because otherwise it cannot serve. The lesson
involves not only the individual himself, but also his parents, siblings, and all of those who come in close relation with him.
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The VALUE of the experience depends on the need of each particular learner. The person himself is a POOR learner, by definition,
only as a step toward changing from a bad to a good one.
T 3 A 8. Mental retardation can also be used as a maladaptive defense, if the wrong (or attack) side is employed. This produces the
"pseudo-retardation syndrome" which is justly classified as a psychiatric (or disturbed-level) symptom. Both of you do this all the
time. B. acts as if he does not understand even his OWN special language, let alone mine, and you cannot read at all.
T 3 A 9. This represents a joint attack on both yourselves AND me, because it renders YOUR mind weak, and mine incompetent.
Remember, this puts you in a truly fearful position. If you cannot understand either your own mind OR mine, you do not KNOW
what is really willed. It is thus IMPOSSIBLE to avoid conflict, as defined before, because even if you act ACCORDING TO will,
you wouldn't know it.
T 3 A 10. The next part of this course rests too heavily on the earlier part not to REQUIRE its study. Without this, you will become
much too fearful when the unexpected DOES occur to make constructive use of it. However, as you study the notes, you will see
some of the obvious implications, unless you still persist in misusing the defense of mental retardation. Please remember that its
constructive use, described above, is hardly a REAL part of your own REAL proper equipment. It is a particularly inappropriate
defense as you use it, and I can only urge you to avoid it.
T 3 A 11. The reason why a solid foundation is necessary at this point is because of the highly likely confusion of "fearful" and
"awesome," which most people do make. You will remember that we said once before that awe is inappropriate in connection with
the Sons of God, because you should not experience awe in the presence of your own equals.
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But it WAS emphasized that awe IS a proper reaction of the Soul in the presence of its Creator.
T 3 A 12. So far, this course has had only indirect recourse to God, and rarely even refers to Him directly. I have repeatedly
emphasized that awe is not appropriate in connection with me, BECAUSE of our inherent equality. I have been careful to clarify my
own role in the Atonement, without either over or understating it. I have tried to do exactly the same things in connection with
yours.
T 3 A 13. The next step, however, DOES involve the direct approach to God Himself. It would be most unwise to start on this step
at all without very careful preparation, or awe will surely be confused with fear, and the experience will be more traumatic than
beatific.
T 3 A 14. Healing is of God in the end. The means are carefully explained in the notes. Revelation has occasionally SHOWN you
the end, but to reach it the means are needed.
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T 3 A 15. (The following Introduction dictated by HS without notes.) The following is the only detailed description which need be
written down as to how error interferes with preparation. The events specifically referred to here could be any events, nor does their
particular influence matter. It is the process which is to be noted here, and not its results. The kind of beliefs, and the fallacious
premises involved in misthought are as well exemplified here as elsewhere. There is nothing of special interest about the events
described below, EXCEPT their typical nature. If this is a true course in mind-training, then the whole value of this section rests
ONLY in showing you what NOT to do. The more constructive emphasis is, of course, on the positive approach. Mind-watching
would have prevented any of this from occurring, and will do so any time you permit it to.
T 3 A 16. (Following is from notes) Tell B. that the reason why he was so strained yesterday is because he allowed himself a
number of fear producing attitudes. They were fleeting enough to be more will-of-the-wisps than serious will-errors, but unless he
watches this kind of thing, he WILL find the notes fearful, and, knowing him well, will mis-distantiate. His unprovoked irritation
was unpardonable EXCEPT by himself, and he did not choose to pardon it. YOU did, but I am afraid you were under some strain in
doing so. This was unfortunate, and weakened your own ability to behave healingly toward B. at the time, and later also toward
Louis, both of whom DID act stupidly. But one stupidity at a time is usually enough. You are getting too close to the misuse of
mental retardation when stupidity sets in all around.
T 3 A 17. B., having already weakened himself, was very un-miracle-minded, first by not asking Dora if she wanted a lift in the cab,
which was going her way. Even if she didn't want it, she would have been able to use the thought well. There is probably no human
error that is
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more fear provoking (in the will/behavior conflict sense) than countering any form of error with error. The result can be highly
inflammable. By reacting to Dora's stupidity with his own, all of the elements which are virtually certain to engender fear have been
provided.
T 3 A 18. B should note that this is one of the few times that he had to wait for a cab. He thought he took care of it by holding the
door of a cab which did come for that lady, but he was misguided in this belief. Beliefs are THOUGHTS, and thus come under
Christ-guidance, NOT control. Actually, by giving this cab to her, he was very unkind to you. It was quite apparent that you were
extremely cold, and also very late. The idea that giving her the cab would atone for his previous errors was singularly out of place,
and well calculated to lead to further error. If, instead of attempting to atone on his own, he had asked for guidance, there would
have been no difficulty whatever in the cab situation. It was not necessary that anyone wait at all.
T 3 A 19. B's original slight to Dora, because of his own need to get home as he perceived it, stopped him from benefiting from the
time-saving device of the miracle. He would have gotten home MUCH quicker if he had taken time to use time properly.
T 3 A 20. YOU were still suffering from strain (see above), and got quite irritated at the girl who stood next to the door on the side
which blocked its opening. Her presence there made it necessary each time the door was opened to hold it for a much longer time
than was necessary, and you were angry because this made you cold. Actually, the girl was taking care of the younger child who
was standing outside, and both of them were really mentally retarded. If you will remember, the older girl asked you very
uncertainly about the bus, and you were well aware at the time of her extreme uncertainty.
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T 3 A 21. It would have been much wiser had you built up her confidence, instead of associating with her stupidity. This reduced
your own efficiency, and the only thing that saved you then was that you DID remember, in the cab, to ask me about the notes,
instead of assuming that you were necessarily to arrange to meet the next day and go over them. B. had already become so
misguided that it did not occur to him that his own will, (which he justified by the contents of the recent notes —a misuse of truth
only seemingly on its own behalf) might be questionable. (You took poor notes yourself here, because you got mad at him on
remembering this. While you did try to will right in the cab, you did not quite succeed. The error is showing up now.)
T 3 A 22. B thus placed himself in a condition to experience a fear rather than a love reaction. (HS notes that she was going to write
"an excellent position," but did not do so. Answer: You were right about the misuse of "excellent" here, and please do cross it out.
You are STILL angry. An excellent position for miscreation is not a meaningful approach to the problem.)
T 3 A 23. It was indeed discourteous T("indeed" is not necessary; it was your OWN error here; I am NOT saying this with any harsh
overtones at all. I am just trying to create better learning conditions for the study periods. We want as little interference as possible,
for VERY good reasons.)
T 3 A 24. Now, go back to B; he WAS discourteous when he told you that HE wanted to keep the original copy of the notes, having
decided to have them Xeroxed on his OWN will, and then justifying it by a very slight misinterpretation of what I said about "useful
for others." In fact, if he will re-read the actual quote, he will see that it REALLY means "useful for HIM." YOU had interpreted
that way, and frankly this was pretty clear to me at the time.
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But this sort of thing happens all the time. It should, be noted, however, that the result was not only considerable and totally
unnecessary planning on B's part, but also a failure to utilize what WAS intended for him as a help for HIMSELF. And before YOU
get too self-satisfied, I would remind you that you do it all the time, too.
T 3 A 25. B. acted inappropriately toward YOU, by saying that he wanted to be SURE that the original was not lost or dirty. It is
noticeable that, having already decided what HE wanted to do, it never occurred to him that it IS possible that HE might lose or
dirty them himself, especially as he had not entrusted them to me. This is a form of arrogance that he would be much happier
without. He should also note that this would probably not have occurred had he not been ALREADY literally "off the beam." Be
SURE to tell him that this pun is to reassure him that I am not angry. If he does not get it, or does not like it, I KNOW it is not
VERY good. The reason is that HE put me in a position where I can really give him very little at the moment.
T 3 A 26. But I want him to know that I am VERY well aware of the exceedingly few times he now makes errors of this kind. He
has come a VERY long way in this respect. It seems a shame that he should allow himself even this much discomfort from it.
T 3 A 27. I suggest to YOU that we pray for him, and I pray for your full cooperation in this. This will correct YOUR errors, and
help him react better to the work on the bookcase, which may otherwise lend itself for misuse by misprojection. There would have
been no problem at all about the bookcase, and perhaps even no bookcase, if the solution of the storage problem had been left to me.
I have promised to guide you OUT of problems, and will certainly not create them for you. But this means that you do not undertake
to solve them yourselves. A storage problem is hardly more difficult for me to solve that a space problem, (see comments under
special principles for miracle workers.)
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T 3 A 28. You started well in your attempt to pray with me for B., but ended badly. This is because you had already made a number
of earlier errors. You were wrong to be pleased with Bill F's criticism of Rose, and should not have enjoyed Bill F's description of
Zanvil's caricaturing of her. You could have laughed WITH Bill, but NOT AT Rose. Real courtesy NEVER does this. You should
know that all God's children are fully worthy of COMPLETE courtesy. You should NEVER join with one at the EXPENSE of
another.
T 3 A 29. When you called B about joining you, Gene, and Anne at lunch, YOU should have waited to ask ME. In fact, you should
not even have told Anne that you would call. Then you could have asked B. FIRST if HE would want to come, and called ANNE
back. It is true that it was better that he came, but this has nothing to do with the real issue. There are ways of treating others in
which ONLY consistent courtesy, even in very little things, is offered. This is a VERY HEALING habit to acquire.
T 3 A 30. B's answer to your call was a clear statement of his own sadly conflicted state. He said, "I don't want to join you, but
that's ungracious, so I'll go." Whenever ANY invitation to join others in a gracious way is offered, it should ALWAYS be met with
respect, although it need not always be accepted. However, if it is MET ungraciously the resulting feeling may well be one of
coercion. This is ALWAYS a split-will reaction.
T 3 A 31. B. did not solve this by ACTING graciously. The lunch need not have entailed either mental or physical strain for him,
and no "need to escape" should have arisen. This was a regression of the unprofitable kind. B. will continue to experience this need
from time to time, until he is willing to realize that there is nothing he needs or wants to escape from.
T 3 A 32. It is very hard to get out of the chain of miscreation which can arise out of even the simplest mis-thought. To borrow one
of your own phrases, "This kind of human tragedy is far easier to avert than to undo."
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T 3 A 33. You must both learn not to let this kind of chain reaction START. You will NOT be able to control it once it has started,
because everything and everyone will be pulled into the misprojection, and misinterpreted accordingly. NOTHING is lovely to the
unloving. This is because they are CREATING ugliness.
T 3 A 34. You, Helen, were definitely not acting right-mindedly by writing these notes right in front of Jonathan. (Note that you
wrote his name as "Jonathan" this time, although previously in these same notes you referred to him as "Louis," intentionally using
his real name. Actually, of course, it does not matter what you call him, but NOTE that you FELT FREE at that time to CHOOSE
the name YOU preferred to use. This time, you were FORCED to call him "Jonathan" because you were ATTACKING him when
you took the notes in front of him, and are now falling back on the magical device of "protecting his name."
T 3 A 35. (I had been considering calling B rather ambivalently, and had gotten up to do so, but remembered to ask. The answer was
to call him at 8:30. It would be better if HE called, but he may not decide to do so. If he does not, you should try to get through, and
if he had decided NOT to be there, just leave a message that it is not important. This is still a kindly gesture, and the message should
be put in a gentle way.) (B. did call HS)
T 3 A 36. Without going into further elaboration, and we could devote many hours to this, lets consider all the time that we had to
waste today. AND all the notes that could have been devoted to a better purpose than undoing the waste, and thus creating further
waste. There IS a better use for time, too. I would have liked to have spent some time on corrections of the past notes, as an
important step before reviewing them. A major point of clarification is necessary in connection with the phrase "replacing hatred (or
fear) with love."
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T 3 A 37. (No, Helen, do NOT check this against the prayer that B. very kindly typed for you on the card. That WAS a gracious
offering on his part, and YOU also accepted it with grace at the time. Why should you deprive yourself of the value of the offering
by referring this correction first to HIM?)
T 3 A 38. (These notes did not continue at this time, due to the obvious fact that HS was still clearly not in her right mind. However,
B later suggested that "correct" or "correct for" should be used instead of "replace". At the time, he was quite sure about this, and he
was perfectly right. The reason why it was essential that HE make this correction was that the word "replace" was his choice
originally, and reflected a temporary misunderstanding of his own. It was, however, both courteous and necessary that he change
this himself, both as a sign of his own better understanding, and of an avoidance of correction by someone else, which would have
been discourteous.)
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T 3 B. Special Principles for Miracle Workers (*N 312 5:161)
T 3 B 1. The miracle abolishes the need for lower order concerns. Since it is an illogical, or out-of-pattern time interval, by
definition, the ordinary considerations of time and space do not apply.
T 3 B 1a. For example, I do NOT regard time as you and B. do, and Kolb's space problem is NOT mine. When YOU perform a
miracle, I will arrange both time and space to adjust to it.
T 3 B 2. Clear distinction between what HAS BEEN Created and what IS BEING created is essential. ALL forms of correction (or
healing) rest on this FUNDAMENTAL correction in level perception.
T 3 B 3. Another way of stating 2) is: NEVER confuse right with wrong-mindedness. Responding to ANY form of miscreation
with anything EXCEPT a DESIRE TO HEAL (or a miracle) is an expression of this confusion.
T 3 B 4. The miracle is ALWAYS a DENIAL of this error, and an affirmation of the truth. Only Right-Mindedness CAN create in a
way that has any real effect. Pragmatically, what has no real effect, has no real existence. Its REAL effect, then, is emptiness. Being
without substantial content, it lends itself to projection.
T 3 B 5. The level-adjustment power of the miracle creates the right perception for healing. Until this has occurred, healing cannot
be understood. Forgiveness is an empty gesture, unless it entails correction. Without this, it is essentially judgmental, rather than
healing.
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T 3 B 6. Miraculous forgiveness is ONLY correction. It has no element of judgment at all. "Father forgive them for they know not
what they do" in NO way EVALUATES what they do. It is strictly limited to an appeal to God to HEAL their minds. There is no
reference to the outcome of their misthought. THIS does not matter.
T 3 B 7. The Biblical injunction "Be of one mind" is the statement for REVELATION readiness. My OWN injunction "Do this in
remembrance of me" is the request for cooperation in miracle-workers. It should be noted that the two statements are not in the
same order of reality, because the latter involves a time awareness, since memory implies recalling the PAST in the present.
T 3 B 8. Time is under MY direction, but Timelessness belongs to God alone. In time, we exist for and with each other. In
Timelessness, we coexist with God.
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T 3 C. Atonement without Sacrifice (*N 317 5:166)
T 3 C 1. There is one more point which must be perfectly clear before any residual fear which may still be associated with miracles
becomes entirely groundless. The Crucifixion did NOT establish the Atonement. The Resurrection did. This is a point which many
very sincere Christians have misunderstood. Nobody who was free of the scarcity-fallacy could POSSIBLY have made this mistake.
T 3 C 2. If the Crucifixion is seen from an upside-down point of view, it certainly does appear AS IF God permitted, and even
encouraged, one of his Sons to suffer BECAUSE he was good. Many very devoted ministers preach this every day. This particularly
unfortunate interpretation, which actually arose out of the combined misprojection of a large number of my own would-be
followers, has led many people to be bitterly afraid of God.
T 3 C 3. This particularly anti-religious concept happens to enter into many religions, and this is neither by chance nor coincidence.
T 3 C 4. The real Christian would have to pause and ask "how could this be?" Is it likely that God Himself would be capable of the
kind of thinking which His own Words have clearly stated is unworthy of man?
T 3 C 5. (There are times when) The best defense, as always, is NOT to attack another's position, but rather to protect the truth. It is
not necessary to consider anything acceptable, if you have to turn a whole frame of reference around in order to justify it. This
procedure is painful in its minor
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applications, and genuinely tragic on a mass basis. Persecution is a frequent result, justifying the terrible misperception that God
Himself persecuted His own Son on behalf of salvation. The very words are meaningless.
T 3 C 6. It has always been particularly difficult to overcome this because, although the error itself is no harder to overcome than
any other error, men were unwilling to give it up because of its prominent escape value. In milder forms, a parent says "This hurts
me more than it hurts you," and feels exonerated in beating a child. Can you believe that the Father REALLY thinks this way?
T 3 C 7. It is so essential that all such thinking be dispelled that we must be VERY sure that NOTHING of this kind remains in your
mind. I was NOT punished because YOU were bad. The wholly benign lesson which the Atonement teaches is wholly lost if it is
tainted with this kind of distortion in ANY form.
T 3 C 8. "Vengeance is Mine sayeth the Lord" is strictly a karmic viewpoint. It is a real misperception of truth, by which man
assigns his own evil past to God. The "evil conscience" from the past has nothing to do with God. He did not create it, and He does
not maintain it. God does NOT believe in karmic retribution at all. His Divine mind does not create that way. HE does not hold the
evil deeds of a man even against HIMSELF. Is it likely, then, that He would hold against any man the evil that ANOTHER did?
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T 3 C 9. Be very sure that you recognize how impossible this assumption really is, and how ENTIRELY it arises from
misprojection. This kind of error is responsible for a host of related fallacies, including the misbelief that God rejected man and
forced him out of the Garden of Eden, or that I am misdirecting you. I have made every effort to use words which are ALMOST
impossible to distort, but man is very inventive when it comes to twisting symbols around.
T 3 C 10. God Himself is not symbolic; He is FACT. The Atonement, too, is totally without symbolism. It is perfectly clear,
because it exists in light. Only man's attempts to shroud it in darkness have made it inaccessible to the unwilling, and ambiguous to
the partly willing. The Atonement itself radiates nothing but truth. It therefore epitomizes harmlessness, and sheds ONLY blessing.
It could not do this if it arose from anything other than perfect innocence! Innocence is wisdom, because it is unaware of evil, which
does not exist. It is, however, PERFECTLY aware of EVERYTHING, that is true.
T 3 C 11. The Resurrection demonstrated that NOTHING can destroy truth. Good can withstand ANY form of evil, because light
abolishes ALL forms of darkness. The Atonement is thus the perfect lesson. It is the final demonstration that all of the other lessons
which I taught are true.
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T 3 C 12. Man is released from ALL errors if he believes in this. The deductive approach to teaching accepts the generalization
which is applicable to ALL single instances, rather than building up the generalization after analyzing numerous single instances
separately. If you can accept the ONE GENERALIZATION now, there will be no need to learn from many smaller lessons.
T 3 C 13. NOTHING can prevail against a Son of God who commends his Spirit into the hands of His Father. By doing this, the
mind awakens from its sleep, and the Soul remembers its Creator. All sense of Separation disappears, and level confusion vanishes.
The Son of God IS part of the holy Trinity, but the Trinity Itself is One. There is no confusion within ITS levels, because they are of
One Mind and One Will. This Single Purpose creates perfect integration, and establishes the (reign of the) Peace of God.
T 3 C 14. But this vision can be perceived only by the truly innocent. Because their hearts are pure, they defend true perception,
instead of defending themselves AGAINST it. Understanding the lesson of the Atonement, they are without the will to attack, and
therefore they see truly. This is what the Bible means when it says "(and) when He shall appear (or be perceived) we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him AS HE IS."
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T 3 C 15. Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. It arises solely from fear of the Records. This is particularly unfortunate,
because frightened people are apt to be vicious. Sacrificing others in any way is a clear-cut violation of God's own injunction that
man should be merciful even as His Father in Heaven is merciful.
T 3 C 16. It has been harder for many Christians to realize that this commandment (or assignment) also applies to THEMSELVES.
Good teachers never terrorize their students. To terrorize is to attack, and this results in rejection of what the teacher offers. This
results in learning failures.
T 3 C 17. I have been correctly referred to in the Bible as "The Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world." Those who
represent the lamb as blood-stained (an all too widespread conceptual error) do NOT understand the meaning of the symbol.
T 3 C 18. Correctly understood, the symbol is a very simple parable, or teaching device, which merely depicts my innocence. The
lion and the lamb lying down together refers to the fact that strength and innocence are NOT in conflict, but naturally live in peace.
"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God" is another way of saying the same thing. Only the innocent CAN see God.
T 3 C 19. There has been some controversy (in human terms) as to whether seeing is an attribute of the eyes, or an expression of the
integrative powers of the brain. Correctly understood, the issue revolves around the question of whether
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the body or the mind can see (or understand). This is not really open to question at all.
T 3 C 20. The body is not capable of understanding. Only the mind KNOWS anything. A pure mind knows the truth, and this IS its
strength. It cannot attack the body, because it knows EXACTLY what the body IS. This is what "a sane mind in a sane body" really
means.
T 3 C 21. A sane mind is NOT out for blood. It does not confuse destruction with innocence, because it associates innocence with
strength, NOT with weakness. Innocence is INCAPABLE of sacrificing anything, because the innocent mind HAS everything and
strives only to PROTECT its Wholeness. This is why it CANNOT misproject. It can only honor man, because honor is the
NATURAL greeting of the truly loved to others who are LIKE them.
T 3 C 22. The lamb taketh away the sins of the world only in the sense that the state of innocence or Grace, is one in which the
meaning of the Atonement is perfectly apparent. The innocence of God is the true state of the mind of His Son. In this state, man's
mind DOES see God, and because he sees Him as he Is, he knows that the Atonement, NOT sacrifice, is the ONLY appropriate gift
to His OWN altar, where nothing except perfection truly belongs. The understanding of the innocent is TRUTH. That is why their
altars are truly radiant. 138)137
T 3 C 23. (Dictated directly without notes)pp 7-12
Though Christians generally (but by no means universally) recognize the contradiction involved in victimizing others, they are less
adept at ensuring their own inability to victimize themselves. Although this appears to be a much more benign error from the
viewpoint of society, it is nevertheless inherently dangerous because once a two-edged defense is used, its direction cannot be
self-controlled.
T 3 C 24. B. recently observed how many ideas were condensed into relatively few pages here. This is because we have not been
forced to dispel miscreations throughout. (There is one set of notes not yet transcribed which is devoted to this. These emphasize
only the enormous waste of time that is involved.) Cayce's notes, too, could have been much shortened. Their excessive length is
due to two factors. The first involves a fundamental error which Cayce himself made, and which required constant undoing. The
second is more related to the attitude of his followers. They are unwilling to omit anything he said. This is respectful enough, but
not overly-judicious. I would be a far better editor, if they would allow me this position on their staff.
T 3 C 25. It is obvious that Cayce himself was not able to transcend the misperceptions of the need for sacrifice, or he could not
possibly have been willing to sacrifice himself. Anyone who is unable to leave the requests of others unanswered has not entirely
transcended egocentricity.
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I never "gave of myself" in this inappropriate way, nor would I ever have encouraged Cayce to do so.
T 3 C 26. Cayce could not see the Atonement as totally lacking in sacrifice at ANY level. It WAS obvious to him that the mind
cannot be so limited. It was equally apparent to him that the Soul is merely unaffected by such an idea. This left him only the body
with which to invest his misperception. This is also why he used his own mind at the "EXPENSE of his body."
T 3 C 27. Because Cayce was a somewhat erratic listener, he was compelled to correct his own errors at very great length, and not
always adequately. Consider the basis from which he started, when he began with "yes, we have the body." It is noteworthy that in
all these readings, a large section was actually devoted to the body, even though he usually concluded with the caution that the body
cannot be healed by itself. It would have saved an enormous number of words if he had always begun with this.
T 3 C 28. Cayce and his devotion to me are in no way underestimated by the realization that he worked under very great strain,
which is ALWAYS a sign that something is wrong. One of the difficulties inherent in trance states is that it is very difficult to
overcome the split which the trance itself induces through the medium of communications made while in the trance state.
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T 3 C 29. Cayce's whole approach put him in a real double-bind, from which he did not recover. When he spoke of a dream in
which he saw his own rather immanent reincarnation, he was perfectly accurate. He was sufficiently attuned to real communication
to make it easy to correct his errors, and free him to communicate without strain. It is noticeable throughout his notes that he
frequently engaged in a fallacy that we have already noted in some detail: namely, the tendency to endow the physical with
nonphysical properties. Cayce suffered greatly from this error. He did not make either of the other three. However, you will
remember that it is this one which is particularly vulnerable to magical associations. Cayce's accuracy was so great that, even when
he did this, he was able to apply it constructively. But it does not follow that this was a genuinely constructive approach.
T 3 C 30. It should also be noted that, when Cayce attempted to "see" the body in proper perspective, he saw physically discernible
auras surrounding it. This is a curious compromise, in which the nonphysical attributes of the self are approached AS IF they could
be seen with the physical eye.
T 3 C 31. Cayce's illiteracy never stood in his way. This is because illiteracy does not necessarily imply any lack of love, and in
Cayce's case very definitely did not. He therefore had no difficulty at all in overcoming this seeming limitation.
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What DID hamper him was a profound sense of personal unworthiness, which, characteristically enough, was sometimes
over-compensated for in what might be called a Christian form of grandiosity. Cayce was essentially uncharitable to himself. This made
him very erratic in his own miracles, and, because he was genuinely anxious to help others, left himself in a highly vulnerable
position.
T 3 C 32. His son comments both on the rather erratic nature of the Cayce household, and also on the rather uneven nature of
Cayce's temper. Both of these observations are true, and clearly point to the fact that Cayce did not apply the Peace of God to
himself. Once this had occurred, particularly in a man whose communication channels were open, it was virtually impossible for
him to escape external solutions. Cayce was a very religious man, who should have been able to escape fear through religion. Being
unable to apply his religion wholeheartedly to himself, he was forced to accept certain magical beliefs which were alien to his own
Christianity. This is why he was so different when he was asleep, and even disowned what he said in this state.
T 3 C 33. The lack of integration which this split state implies is clearly shown in certain off-the-mark detours into areas such as the
effects of stones on the mind, and some curious symbolic attempt to integrate churches and glands. (This is hardly more peculiar
than some of your own confusion.)
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T 3 C 34. Cayce's mind was imprisoned to some extent by an error against which you have been cautioned several times. He looked
to the past for an EXPLANATION of the present, but he never succeeded in separating the past FROM the present. When he said
"mind is the builder," he did not realize that it is only what it is building NOW that really creates the future. The past, in itself, does
not have the ability to do this. Whenever we move from one instant to the next, the previous one no longer exists. In considering the
body as the focus for healing, Cayce was expressing his own failure to accept this AS ACCOMPLISHED. He did not fail to
recognize the value of the Atonement for others, but he did fail to accept its corrective merit for himself.
T 3 C 35. As we have frequently emphasized, man CANNOT control his own errors. Having created them, he does believe in them.
Because of his failure to accept his own perfect freedom FROM the past, Cayce could not really perceive others as similarly free.
This is why I have not wholly endorsed the Cayce documents for widespread use.
T 3 C 36. I am heartily supportive of the ARE's endeavor to make Cayce's singular contributions immortal, but it would be most
unwise to have them promulgated as a faith until they have been purged of their essential errors. This is why
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there have been a number of unexplained set backs in their explication. It is also one of the many reasons why the Cayce material, a
major step in the speedup, must be properly understood before it can be meaningfully validated.
T 3 C 37. Cayce's son has been wise in attempting to deal with reliability, which in Cayce's case is very high. There is a way of
validating the material, and Hugh Lynn is perfectly aware that this must be done eventually. He is also aware of the fact that he is
unable to do it. In the present state of the material, it would be most unwise even to attempt it. There is too much that IS invalid.
When the time comes that this can be corrected to the point of real safety, I assure you it will be accomplished. In tribute to Cayce, I
remind you that no effort is wasted, and Cayce's effort was very great.
T 3 C 38. It would be most ungrateful of me if I allowed his work to produce a generation of witch doctors. I am sorry that Cayce
himself could not rid himself of a slight tendency in this direction. But fortunately I have a fuller appreciation of him than he had.
T 3 C 39. I am repeating here a Biblical injunction of my own, already mentioned elsewhere, that if my followers eat any deadly
thing it shall not hurt them. This is what Cayce could NOT believe, because he could not see that, as a Son of God, he WAS
invulnerable.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(144) 143
T 3 D. Miracles as Accurate Perception (*N not present)
(DICTATED WITHOUT NOTES)
T 3 D 1. We have repeatedly stated that the basic concepts referred to throughout the notes are NOT matters of degree. Certain
fundamental concepts CANNOT be meaningfully understood in terms of co-existing polarities. It is impossible to conceive of light
and darkness, or, everything and nothing, as joint possibilities. They are all true OR all false. It is absolutely essential that you
understand completely that behavior is erratic until a firm commitment to one or the other is made.
T 3 D 2. A firm commitment to darkness or nothingness is impossible. Nobody has ever lived who has not experienced some light
and some of everything. This has made everybody really unable to deny truth totally, even if he deceives himself in this connection
most of the time. That is why those who live largely in darkness and emptiness never find any lasting solace. (This really answers
B's question about whether people return voluntarily.)
T 3 D 3. Innocence is also not a partial attribute. It is not a real defense UNTIL it is total. When it is partial, it is characterized by the
same erratic nature that holds for other two-edged defenses. The partly innocent are apt to be quite stupid at times. It is not until
their innocence is a genuine viewpoint which is universal in its application that it becomes wisdom.
T 3 D 4. Innocent (or true) perception means that you NEVER misperceive, and ALWAYS see truly. More simply, this means that
you never see what does not exist in reality. Whenever you lack confidence in what someone else will do, you are attesting to your
belief that he is not in his Right Mind. This is hardly a miracle-based frame of reference. It also has the disastrous effect of denying
(incorrect use) the essentially creative power of the miracle. The miracle perceives everything AS IT IS. If nothing but the truth
exists (and this is really redundant
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in statement, because what is not true CANNOT exist) Right-Minded seeing cannot see ANYTHING BUT perfection. We have said
many times that ONLY what God creates, or what man creates with the same will, has any real existence. This, then, is all that the
innocent can see. They do not suffer from the delusions of the Separated ones.
T 3 D 5. The way to correct all such delusions is to withdraw your faith from them, and invest it ONLY in what is true. To whatever
extent you side with false perception in yourself or others, you are validating a basic misperception. You CANNOT validate the
invalid. I would suggest that you voluntarily give up all attempts to do so, because they can be only frantic. If you are willing to
validate what is true in everything you perceive, you will make it true for you.
T 3 D 6. Remember that we said that truth overcomes ALL error. This means that if you perceive truly, you are canceling out
misperceptions in yourself AND others simultaneously. Because you see them as they were really created and can really create, you
offer them your own validation of THEIR truth. This is the real healing which the miracle actively creates.
T 3 D 7. (Reply to HS question: Is this all? The reason why this is so short, despite its extreme importance, is because it is not
symbolic. This means that it is not open to more than one interpretation.)
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This means that it is unequivocal. It also explains the quotation which you have never gotten correctly in complete form before:
"But this we know, that when He shall appear (or be perceived) we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. And every man
that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure." Every man DOES have the hope that he can see correctly, because
the ability to do so is IN him. Man's ONLY hope IS to see things as they are).
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T 3 E. Perception versus Knowledge (*N 328 5:177)
T 3 E 1. (On Wed. evening, Nov. 24, HS had sudden flash of illumination and very much wanted to offer prayer for B., which she
did as follows: "Jesus, help me see my brother (B.) as he really is, and thus release both him and me." HS also thought later: Every
time there is anything unlovable that crosses one's mind (re sex, possession, etc.) you should immediately recognize that you do not
want to hurt your brother.) On Thurs. morning, the prayer for the miracle occurred as follows stated above.)
T 3 E 2. You had a lot of trouble afterwards with the words (which are essentially irrelevant) partly because you were dissatisfied
with yourself at the time, but also because you ARE confused about the difference between perception and cognition. You will note
that we have said very little about cognition as yet. (Aside: One of the exceptions is in the correction formula for fear, which begins
with KNOW first) The reason is because you must get your perceptions straightened out before you can KNOW anything.
T 3 E 3. To know is to be certain. Uncertainty merely means that you DON't know. Knowledge is power BECAUSE it is certain,
and certainty is strength. Perception is temporary. It is an attribute of the space-time belief, and is therefore subject to fear or love.
Misperception produces fear, and true perception produces love. NEITHER produces certainty because all perception varies. That is
why it is NOT knowledge. True perception is the BASIS for knowledge, but KNOWING is the affirmation of truth.
T 3 E 4. All of your difficulties ultimately stem from the fact that you do not recognize, or KNOW, yourselves, each other, or God.
"Recognize" means "know again." This means that you knew before. (Note that it does not mean SAW before.) You can see in
many ways, because perception involves different interpretations, and this means it is not whole.
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The miracle is a way of PERCEIVING, not a way of knowing. It is the right answer to a question, but you do not ask questions at all
when you know.
T 3 E 5. Questioning delusions is the first step in undoing them. The miracle, or the right answer, corrects them. Since perceptions
CHANGE, their dependence on time is obvious. They are subject to transitory states, and this implies variability by definition. How
you perceive at any given time determines what you DO, and action MUST occur in time. Knowledge is timeless because certainty
is not questionable. You KNOW when you have ceased to ask questions.
T 3 E 6. The "questioning mind" perceives itself in time, and therefore looks for FUTURE answers. The unquestioning mind is
closed merely because it believes the future and the present will be the same. This establishes an unchanged state, or stasis. This is
usually an attempt to counteract an underlying fear that the future will be WORSE than the present, and this fear inhibits the
tendency to question at all.
T 3 E 7. Visions are the natural perception of the spiritual eye, but they are still corrections. B's question about the "spiritual eye"
was a very legitimate one. The "spiritual eye" is symbolic, and therefore NOT a device for knowing. It IS, however, a means of
right perception, which brings it into the proper domain of the miracle, but NOT of revelation. PROPERLY speaking, a "vision of
God" is a miracle rather than a revelation. The fact that perception is involved at all removes the experience from the realm of
knowledge. That is why these visions do not last.
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T 3 E 8. The Bible instructs you to "KNOW thyself," or BE CERTAIN. Certainty is always of God. When you love someone, you
have PERCEIVED him as he is, and this makes it possible for you to KNOW him. But it is not until you RECOGNIZE him that you
KNOW him. Only then are you ABLE to stop asking questions about him.
T 3 E 9. While you ask questions about God, you are clearly implying that you do NOT know him. Certainty does not require
action. When you say you are ACTING on the basis of sure knowledge, you are really confusing perception and cognition.
Knowledge brings MENTAL strength for creative THINKING, but not for right doing.
T 3 E 10. Perception, miracles and doing are closely related. Knowledge is a result of revelation, and induces only thought
(thinking). Perception involves the body even in its most spiritualized form. Knowledge comes from the altar within, and is timeless
because it is certain. To perceive the truth is not the same as KNOWING it. This is why B. is having so much trouble in what he
calls "integrating" the notes. His tentative perception is too uncertain for knowledge, because knowledge is SURE. Your perception
is so variable that you swing from sudden but real knowledge to complete cognitive disorganization. This is why B. is more prone to
irritation, while you are more vulnerable to rage. He is consistently BELOW his potential, while you achieve it at times and then
swing very wide of the mark.
T 3 E 11. Actually, these differences do not matter. But I thought you might be glad to learn that you are much better off with
DIFFERENT perceptual problems than you would be if you suffered from similar ones. This enables each of you to RECOGNIZE
(and this is the
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(150) 149
right word here) that the misperceptions of the other are unnecessary. It is because you do not KNOW what to do about it that B.
reacts to yours with irritation, and you respond to his with fury.
T 3 E 12. I repeat again that if you ATTACK error, you will hurt yourself. You do not RECOGNIZE each other when you attack.
Attack is ALWAYS made on a stranger. You are MAKING him a stranger by misperceiving him, so that you CANNOT know him.
It is BECAUSE you have made him into a stranger that you are afraid of him. PERCEIVE him correctly, so that your Soul can
KNOW him.
T 3 E 13. Right perception is necessary before God can communicate DIRECTLY to his own altars, which he has established in His
Sons. There he can communicate His certainty, and His KNOWLEDGE will bring the peace WITHOUT question.
T 3 E 14. God is not a stranger to His Own Sons, and His Sons are not strangers to each other. Knowledge preceded both perception
and time, and will also ultimately replace (or correct for) them. This is the real meaning of the Biblical account of God as "Alpha
and Omega, the Beginning and the End." It also explains the quotation "Before Abraham WAS, I AM." Perception can and must be
stabilized, but knowledge IS stable. "Fear God and keep His Commandments" is a real scribal error. It should read, "KNOW God
and accept His certainty." (This error is why the commandments are all negative, in contrast to Christ's statement about "Thou shalt
love", etc.) There are no strangers in His Creation. To create as He Created, you can create only what you KNOW and accept as
yours.
T 3 E 15. God knows His Children with perfect certainty. He Created them by knowing them.
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He recognizes them perfectly. When they do not recognize each other, they do not recognize Him. Brothers can misperceive one
another, but they rarely maintain that they do not KNOW each other. This is possible only if they maintain that they are NOT really
brothers. The Bible is VERY specific on this point.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(152) 151
T 3 F. Conflict and the Ego (*N 339 5:188)
T 3 F 1. Most of the abilities man now possesses are only shadows of his real strengths. The Soul knows, loves, and creates. These
are its unequivocal functions. All of the functions of man are equivocal, or open to question or doubt. This is because he can no
longer be certain how he will USE them. He is therefore incapable of knowledge, because he is uncertain. He is also incapable of
true loving, because he can perceive lovelessly. He cannot create surely, because perception deceives, and illusions are not pure.
T 3 F 2. Perception did not exist until the Separation had introduced degrees, aspects and intervals. The Soul has no levels, and ALL
conflict arises from the concept of levels. Wars arise when some regard others as if they were on a different level. All interpersonal
conflicts arise from this fallacy. Only the levels of the Trinity are capable of Unity. The levels which man created by the Separation
are disastrous. They cannot BUT conflict. This is because one is essentially meaningless to another. Freud realized this perfectly,
and that is why he conceived as forever irreconcilable the different levels of his psyche. They were conflict-prone by definition,
because they wanted different things and obeyed different principles.
T 3 F 3. In our picture of the psyche, there is an unconscious level, which properly consists ONLY of the miracle ability and should
be under MY direction; and a conscious level, which perceives or is aware of impulses from both the unconscious and the
superconscious. These are the sources of the impulses it receives. Consciousness is thus the level of perception, but NOT of
knowledge. Again, to PERCEIVE is NOT to know. (In this connection, Cayce is more accurate than Freud.)
T 3 F 4. Consciousness was the first split that man introduced into himself. He became a PERCEIVER rather than a creator in the
true sense.
T 3 F 5. Consciousness is correctly identified as the domain of the ego.
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Jung was right indeed in insisting that the ego is NOT the self, and that the self should be regarded as an achievement. He did not
RECOGNIZE (a term we now understand) that the Achievement was God's. In a sense, the ego was a man-made attempt to
perceive himself as he wished, rather than as he IS. This is an example of the created/creator confusion we spoke of before. He can
only KNOW himself as he IS, because that is all he can be SURE of. Everything else IS open to question.
T 3 F 6. The ego is the questioning compartment in the post-Separation psyche which man created for himself. It is capable of
asking valid questions, but not of perceiving wholly valid answers, because these are cognitive, and cannot BE perceived. The
endless speculation about the meaning of mind has led to considerable confusion because the mind IS confused. Only
One-Mindedness is without confusion. A separate, or divided, mind MUST be confused. A divided mind is uncertain by definition. It
HAS to be in conflict because it is out of accord with itself.
T 3 F 7. Intrapersonal conflict arises from the same basis as interpersonal. One part of the psyche perceives another part as on a
different LEVEL, and does not understand it. This makes the parts strangers to each other, WITHOUT RECOGNITION. This is the
essence of the fear prone condition, in which attack is ALWAYS possible.
T 3 F 8. Man has every reason to feel anxious, as he perceives himself. This is why he cannot escape fear until he KNOWS that he
DID not and CAN not create himself. He can NEVER make this misperception valid, and when he at last PERCEIVES clearly, he is
GLAD HE CAN'T. His Creation is beyond his own error variance, and this is why he MUST eventually choose to heal the
Separation.
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T 3 F 9. Right-mindedness is not to be confused with the KNOWING mind, because it is applicable only to right perception. You
can be right-minded or wrong-minded, and this is subject to degrees, a fact which clearly demonstrates a lack of association with
knowledge. (No, Helen, this is PERFECTLY clear and DOES follow the previous section. Neither you nor I is at all confused, even
in grammar.)
T 3 F 10. The term "right-mindedness" is properly used as the correction for wrong-mindedness, and applies to the state of mind
which induces accurate perception. It is miraculous because it heals misperception, and healing is indeed a miracle, in view of how
man perceives himself. Only the sick NEED healing. The Soul does not need healing, but the mind DOES.
T 3 F 11. Freud gave a very graphic but upside-down account of how the divisions of the mind arose from the bottom UP. Actually,
this is impossible, because the unconscious cannot create the conscious. You cannot create something you can't KNOW. Freud was
greatly worried about this, being VERY bright, though misguided, and attempted to get around it by introducing a number of
"borderline" areas which merely resulted in fuzziness. This was particularly unfortunate, because he was capable of going much
higher, if he had not been so afraid. This is why he kept pulling the mind DOWN.
T 3 F 12. The ego did NOT arise out of the unconscious. A lower-order perception cannot create a higher-order one, (which is the
way you perceive the structure of the psyche if you look at it from the bottom UP) because it doesn't understand it. But a
higher-order perception CAN create a lower-order one by understanding it in terms of MISperception.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(155) 154
T 3 F 13. Perception ALWAYS involves some misuse of will, because it involves the mind in areas of uncertainty. The mind is very
active because it has will-power. When it willed the Separation it willed to perceive. Until it chose to do this, it willed only to know.
Afterwards, it had to will ambiguously, and the only way out of ambiguity IS clear perception.
T 3 F 14. The ego is as frail as Freud perceived it. The later theorists have tried to introduce a less pessimistic view, but have looked
in the wrong direction for their hope. Any attempt to endow the ego with the attributes of the Soul, is merely confused thinking.
Freud was more clear-sighted about this, because he knew a BAD thing when he perceived it, but he failed to recognize that a bad
thing cannot exist. It is therefore wholly unnecessary to try to get out of it. As you very rightly observed yourself, the thing to do
with a desert is to LEAVE.
T 3 F 15. The mind returns itself to its proper function only when it WILLS TO KNOW. This places it in the Soul's service, where
perception is meaningless. The superconscious is the level of the mind which wills to do this. (Freud was particularly distorted on
this point, because he was getting too far UP for comfort according to his own perception.) But he WAS right in maintaining that
the "parts" of the psyche cannot be correctly perceived either as THINGS or as entirely separate. (He would have thought better if
he had said "entirely separated.")
T 3 F 16. The mind DID divide itself when it willed to create its own levels AND the ability to perceive them. But it could NOT
entirely separate itself from the Soul, because it is FROM the Soul that it derives its whole power to create. Even in miscreating,
will is affirming its source, or it would merely cease to be. This is impossible, because it IS part of the Soul, which God created, and
which is therefore eternal.
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T 3 F 17. The ability to perceive made the body possible, because you must perceive SOMETHING, and WITH something. This is
why perception involves an exchange, or a translation, which knowledge does NOT need. The interpretive function of perception,
(actually, a distorted form of creation), then permitted man to interpret the body as HIMSELF, which, although depressing, was a
way out of the conflict he induced. (This has already been covered in some detail.)
T 3 F 18. The superconscious, which KNOWS, could not be reconciled with this loss of power, because it was incapable of
darkness. This is why it became almost inaccessible to the mind, and entirely inaccessible to the body. It was PERCEIVED as a
threat, because light does abolish darkness by establishing the clear fact that it ISN'T THERE. The truth will ALWAYS destroy
error in this sense. This is not an ACTIVE process of destruction at all. We have already emphasized the fact that knowing does not
DO anything. It can be PERCEIVED as an attacker, but it CANNOT attack.
T 3 F 19. What man perceives as its attack is his own recognition of the fact that it can always be REMEMBERED, because it has
never been destroyed. This is not a literal remembering as much as a re-membering. (That is largely for B. I wish he would decide to
use that talent of his constructively. He has no idea of how powerful it could be. Actually, it does come from the unconscious, and is
really a distorted form of miraculous perception which he has reduced to word twisting. Although this can be quite funny, it is still a
real waste. Maybe he’d care to let me control it, and still use it humorously himself. He doesn't have to decide it is one OR the
other.)
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T 3 F 20. The unconscious should never have been reduced to a "container" for the waste products of conflict. Even as HE perceives
his psyche, every level has a creative potential, because nothing man creates can wholly lose this.
T 3 F 21. God and the Souls He created remain in surety, and therefore KNOW that no miscreation exists. Truth cannot deal with
unwilling error, because it does not will to be blocked out. But I was a man who remembered the Soul and its knowledge. Tell B.
that when he refused to misperceive he was indeed behaving as I behaved. And as a man, I did not attempt to counteract error with
knowledge, so much as to CORRECT error from the bottom up. I demonstrated both the powerlessness of the body AND the power
of the mind, by uniting MY will with that of my Creator, which naturally remembered the Soul and its own real purpose.
T 3 F 22. I cannot unite your will with God's for you. But I CAN erase all misperceptions from your mind, if you will bring it under
my guidance. ONLY your misperceptions stand in your own way. Without them, your own choice is certain. Sane perception
INDUCES sane choosing. The Atonement was an act based on true perception. I cannot choose for you, but I CAN help you make
your own right choice.
T 3 F 23. "Many are called but few are chosen" SHOULD read, "ALL are called but few choose to listen. Therefore, they do not
choose RIGHT." The "chosen ones" are merely those who choose right SOONER. This is the real meaning of the celestial speed-
up. Strong wills can do this NOW. And you WILL find rest for your Souls. God knows you only in peace, and this IS your reality.
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T 3 F 24. (Note that the term "insight", though referring to lofty perception, is not an attribute of knowledge. This is why terms like
"lofty" are meaningless in this context. Insight is not the way TO knowledge, but it IS a prerequisite FOR knowledge. Being of
God, knowledge has nothing to do with your perceptions at all. That is why it can only be a gift of God TO you.)
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T 3 G. The Loss of Certainty (*N 366 5:215)
Dictated without notes.
T 3 G 1. We said before that the abilities which man possesses are only shadows of his true abilities. The Soul's true functions are
knowing, loving, and creating. The intrusion of the ability to perceive, which is inherently judgmental, was introduced only after the
Separation. No-one has been sure of anything since then. You will also remember that I made it very clear that the Resurrection was
the return to knowledge, which was accomplished by the union of my will with the Father's.
T 3 G 2. Since the Separation, the words "create" and "make" are inevitably confused. When you make something, you make it first
out of a sense of lack or need, and second, out of a something that already exists. Anything that is made is made for a specific
purpose. It has no true generalizability. When you make something to fill a perceived lack, which is obviously why you would make
anything, you are tacitly implying that you believe in the Separation. Knowing does not lead to doing, as we have frequently
observed already.
T 3 G 3. What appears to be contradictory about the difference between knowing and perceiving, and Revelation and miracles, is
again the fallacy that is the root cause of all subsequent errors. The miracle was associated with perception, and not with knowing.
However, we also noted that prayer is the medium of miracles, and also the natural communication of the Creator and the Created.
Prayer is always an affirmation of knowledge, not of accurate perception. That is why unless perception has entered into it, it calls
on Revelation.
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T 3 G 4. The confusion between your own creation and what you create is so profound that it has literally become impossible to
know anything, because knowledge is always stable. It is quite evident that human beings are not. Nevertheless, they are perfectly
stable as God created them. In this sense, when their behavior is unstable, they are obviously disagreeing with God's idea of the
Creation. This is a fundamental right of man, although not one he would care to exercise if he were in his Right Mind.
T 3 G 5. The problem that is bothering you most is the fundamental question which man continually asks of himself, but which
cannot properly be directed to himself at all. He keeps on asking "himself" what he is. This implies that the answer is not only one
which he knows, but one which is up to him. The first part of this statement is perfectly true, but the second part is not. We have
frequently commented on the absolute necessity of correcting all fallacious thinking which associates man in any way with his own
Creation. Man CANNOT perceive himself correctly. He has no image at all. The word "image" is always perception related, and is
not a product of knowing. Images are symbolic, and stand for something else. The current emphasis on "changing your image" is a
good description of the power of perception, but it implies that there is nothing to KNOW.
T 3 G 6. Prayer is the medium of miracles, not because God created perceptions, but because God created YOU. At the beginning of
this course, we said that YOU are a miracle. Therefore, the miracle worker is a miracle NOT of his own creation. Unless perception
rests on some knowing basis, it is so unstable that it doesn't mean anything. 161)160 Knowing is not open to interpretation, because
its meaning is its own. It is possible to interpret meaning, but this is always open to error because it involves the perception of
meaning. All of these wholly needless complexities are the result of man's attempt to regard himself both as separated and
unseparated at the same time. It is impossible to undertake a confusion as fundamental as this without engaging in further confusion.
T 3 G 7. Methodologically, man's mind has been very creative. But, as always occurs when method and content are separated, it has
not been utilized for anything but an attempt to escape a fundamental and entirely inescapable impasse. This kind of thinking cannot
result in a creative outcome, though it has resulted in considerable ingenuity. It is noteworthy, however, that this ingenuity has
almost totally divorced him from knowledge.
T 3 G 8. Knowledge does not require ingenuity at all. When we say "the truth shall set you free," we mean that all this kind of
thinking is a waste of time, but that you are free of the need of engaging in it.
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T 3 G 9. Note again that the functions of the Soul were not referred to as abilities. This point requires clarification, because abilities
are beliefs which are BASED on the scarcity fallacy, since they do not mean anything apart from within-group comparisons. As you
yourself never fail to point out, "nobody has none of an ability, and nobody has all of it." That is, of course, why the curve never
rests on the line. The clearest implications of relativity, which properly inheres in this statement, DEMONSTRATE that abilities are
not functions of the Soul. The Soul's functions are NOT relative. They are ABSOLUTE. They are OF God and FROM God, and
therefore God-like.
T 3 G 10. Prayer is a way of asking for something. When we said that prayer is the medium of miracles, we also said that the only
meaningful prayer is for forgiveness, because those who have been forgiven have everything. Once forgiveness has been accepted,
prayer in the usual sense becomes utterly without meaning. Essentially, a prayer for forgiveness is nothing more than a request that
we may be able to recognize something we already have.
T 3 G 11. In electing the ability to perceive instead of the will to know, man placed himself in a position where he could resemble
his Father ONLY by perceiving miraculously. But he lost the knowledge that he himself is a miracle. MIRACULOUS CREATION
was his own Source, and also his own real function. "God created man in his own image and likeness" is correct in meaning, but the
words are open to considerable misinterpretation. This is avoided, however, if "image" is understood to mean "thought," and
"likeness" is taken as "of a like quality." God DID create the Son in His own Thought, and of a quality like to His own. There IS
nothing else.
T 3 G 12. Perception is impossible WITHOUT a belief in "more" and "less." Unless perception, at every level, involves selectivity,
it is incapable of organization. In all types of perception, there is a continual process of accepting and rejecting, of organizing and
reorganizing, and of shifting and changing focus. Evaluation is an essential aspect of perception, because judgment MUST be made
for selection. "Lack of lack" is a concept which is meaningless to a perceiver, because the ability to perceive at all RESTS ON lack.
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T 3 G 13. What happens to perceptions if there ARE no judgments, and there is nothing BUT perfect equality? Perception is
automatically useless. Truth can only be KNOWN. All of it is equally true, and knowing any part of it IS to know all of it.
T 3 G 14. Only perception involves partial awareness. Knowledge transcends ALL of the laws which govern perception. Partial
KNOWLEDGE is impossible. It is all One, and has no separate parts. (i.e. the parts have NOT separated.) This IS the real
knowledge. You who are really one with it need but know YOURSELF and your knowledge is complete. To know God's miracle is
to know Him.
T 3 G 15. Forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation. Correct perception of EACH OTHER is necessary ONLY
because minds have willed to see themselves AS separate beings. Each Soul knows God completely. This IS the miraculous power
of the Soul. The fact that each Soul has this power completely is a fact that is entirely alien to human thinking, in which if any ONE
has everything, there is nothing LEFT.
T 3 G 16. God's miracles are as total as His Thought, because they ARE His thoughts. God shines in them all with perfect light. If
they recognize this light anywhere, they know it universally. Revelation cannot be explained, because it IS knowledge. Revelation
HAPPENS. It is the only REALLY natural happening, because it reflects the nature of God.
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T 3 G 17. As long as perception lasts, prayer has a place. Since perception rests on lack, those who perceive have not totally
accepted the Atonement and given over themselves to truth. Perception IS a separated state, and the perceiver DOES need healing.
Communion, not prayer, is the natural state of those who know. God and HIS miracles are inseparable.
T 3 G 18. All words, at best, are preparatory. THE word is really a thought. No one WORD is universally meaningful, because a
word is a symbol, but thought is not divisible by creation. The original name for "thought" and "word" was the same. The quotation
should read "In the beginning was the thought, and the thought was with God, and the thought WAS God." How beautiful indeed
are the thoughts of God, who live in His light. Your worth is beyond perception because it is beyond doubt.
T 3 G 19. Do not perceive yourself in different lights. KNOW yourself in the One Light, where the miracle which is you is perfectly
clear.
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T 3 G 20. The prerequisites for therapy must include the following conditions:
T 3 G 21. -1. The procedure must involve the recognition rather than the denial of the importance of thought.
T 3 G 22. -2. The exact equality of everyone who is involved. This must include Me.
T 3 G 23. -3. No-one is either therapist or patient. (B. should add "teacher or pupil.")
T 3 G 24. -4. Above all EVERYONE involved must want to give up everything that is NOT true. The reason for the negative
emphasis here is that therapy implies something HAS gone wrong. Even though the purpose is to correct, those who are ill ARE
negative.
T 3 G 25. -5. Therapy is EXACTLY the same as all other forms of miracle-working. It has no separate laws of its own. All of the
points that were given for miracles apply to therapy because, UNLESS therapy proceeds from miracle-mindedness, it CANNOT
heal.
T 3 G 26. -6. The therapist (hopefully) does have the role of being the better perceiver. (This is also, again hopefully, true of the
teacher.) It does not follow that he is the better knower. Temporarily, the therapist or teacher can help in straightening out twisted
perceptions, which is also the only role that I would ever contribute myself. All therapy should do is try to place EVERYONE
involved in the right frame of mind to help one another. It is essentially a process of true courtesy, including courtesy to Me.
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T 3 G 27. Any form of mental illness can truthfully be described as an expression of viciousness. We said before that those who are
afraid are apt to be vicious. If we were willing to forgive other people's misperceptions of us, they could not possibly affect us at all.
There is little doubt that you can explain your present attitudes in terms of how people used to look at you, but there is no wisdom in
doing so. In fact, the whole historical approach can justifiably be called doubtful.
T 3 G 28. As you have so often said, no-one has adopted ALL of his parents’ attitudes as his own. In every case, there has been a
long process of choice, in which the individual has escaped from those he himself vetoed, while retaining those he voted FOR. B.
has not retained his parents political beliefs, in spite of the particular kind of newspapers that constituted their own reading matter in
this area. The reason why he could do this was because he believed he was free in this area.
T 3 G 29. There must be some acute problem OF HIS OWN that would make him so eager to accept their misperception of his own
worth. This tendency can ALWAYS be regarded as punitive. It cannot be justified by the inequality of the strengths of parents and
children. This is never more than temporary, and is largely a matter of maturational and thus physical difference. It does not last
unless it is held onto.
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T 3 G 30. When B's father came to his new office and "destroyed" it, it is quite apparent that B. MUST have been willing to let it be
destroyed. The many times that he has commented on this event alone would suggest that the extreme importance of this
misperception in his own distorted thinking. Why should anyone accord an obvious misperception so much power? There cannot be
any real justification for it, because even B. himself recognized the real problem by saying "How could he do this to me?" The
answer is HE didn't.
T 3 G 31. B. has a very serious question to ask himself in this connection. We said before that the purpose of the Resurrection was
to "demonstrate that no amount of misperception has any influence at all on a Son of God." This demonstration EXONERATES
those who misperceive, by establishing beyond doubt that they have NOT hurt anyone. B's question, which he must ask himself
very honestly, is whether he is willing to demonstrate that his parents have NOT hurt him. Unless he is willing to do this, he has not
forgiven them.
T 3 G 32. The essential goal of therapy is the same as that of knowledge. No-one can survive independently as long as he is willing
to see himself through the eyes of others. This will always put him in a position where he MUST see himself in different lights.
Parents do not create the image of their children, though they may perceive
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images which they do create. However, as we have already said, you are not an image. If you SIDE WITH image-makers, you are
merely being idolatrous.
T 3 G 33. B. has no justification whatever for perpetuating ANY image of himself at all. He is NOT an image. Whatever is true of
him is wholly benign. It is essential that he KNOW this about himself, but he cannot know it while he chooses to interpret himself
as vulnerable enough to BE hurt. This is a peculiar kind of arrogance, whose narcissistic component is perfectly obvious. It endows
the perceiver with sufficient unreal strength to make him over, and then acknowledges the perceiver's miscreation. There are times
when this strange lack of real courtesy appears to be a form of humility. Actually, it is never more than simple spite.
T 3 G 34. Bill, your parents did misperceive you in many ways, but their ability to perceive was quite warped, and their
misperceptions stood in the way of their own knowledge. There is no reason why it should stand in the way of yours. It is still true
that you believe they DID something to you. This belief is extremely dangerous to your perception, and wholly destructive of your
knowledge. This is not only true of your attitudes toward your parents, but also of your misuse of your friends. You still think that
you MUST respond to their errors AS IF they were true. By reacting self-destructively, you are GIVING them approval for their
misperceptions.
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T 3 G 35. No-one has the right to change himself according to different circumstances. Only his actions are capable of appropriate
variation. His belief in himself is a constant, unless it rests on perceptual acuity rather than knowledge of what he is.
T 3 G 36. It is your DUTY to establish beyond doubt that you are totally unwilling to side with (identify with) anyone's
misperceptions of you, including your own. If you become concerned with totally irrelevant factors, such as the physical condition
of a classroom, the number of students, the hour of the course, and the many elements which you may choose to select for emphasis
as a basis for misperception, you have lost the knowledge of what ANY interpersonal relationship is for. It is NOT true that the
difference between pupil and teacher is lasting. They meet IN ORDER to abolish the difference. At the beginning, since we are still
in time, they come together on the basis of inequality of ability and experience. The aim of the teacher is to give them more of what
is temporarily his. This process has all of the miracle conditions we referred to at the beginning. The teacher (or miracle worker)
gives more to those who have less, bringing them closer to equality with him, at the same time gaining for himself.
T 3 G 37. The confusion here is only because they do not gain the same things, because they do not NEED the same things. If they
did, their respective, though temporary roles would not be conducive to mutual profit. Freedom from fear can be achieved by BOTH
teacher and pupil ONLY if they do not compare either their needs or their
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positions in regard to each other in terms of higher and lower.
T 3 G 38. Presumably, children must learn from parents. What parents learn from children is merely of a different order. Ultimately,
there is no difference in order, but this involves only knowledge. Neither parents nor children can be said to HAVE knowledge, or
their relationships would not exist AS IF they were on different levels. The same is true of the teacher and the pupil. Children have
an authority problem ONLY if they believe that their image is influenced BY the authority. This is an act of will on their part,
because they are electing to misperceive the authority and GIVE him this power.
T 3 G 39. A TEACHER with an authority problem is merely a pupil who refuses to teach others. He wants to maintain HIMSELF in
a position where he can be misused and misperceived. This makes him resentful of teaching, because of what he insists it has done
to him.
T 3 G 40. The ONLY way out of this particular aspect of the desert is still to leave. The way this is left is to release EVERYONE
involved, by ABSOLUTELY REFUSING to engage in any form of honoring error. Neither teacher nor pupil is imprisoned by
learning unless he uses it as an attack. If he does this, he will be imprisoned whether he actually teaches or learns, or refuses to be
engaged in the process at all.
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T 3 G 41. The role of a teacher, properly conceived, is one of leading himself and others out of the desert. The value of this role can
hardly be underestimated, if only because it was one to which I very gladly dedicated my own life. I have repeatedly asked MY
pupils to follow me. This means that, to be effective teachers, they MUST interpret teaching as I do. I have made EVERY effort to
teach you ENTIRELY without fear. If you do not listen, you will be unable to avoid the VERY obvious error of perceiving teaching
as a threat.
T 3 G 42. It is hardly necessary to say that teaching is a process whose purpose is to produce learning. The ultimate purpose of ALL
learning is to abolish fear. This is necessary so that knowledge can happen. The role of the teacher is NOT the role of God. This
confusion is all too frequently made, by parents, teachers, therapists, and the clergy. It is a real misunderstanding of both God and
His miracles. Any teacher who believes that teaching is fearful CANNOT learn because he is paralyzed. He also cannot really teach.
T 3 G 43. B. was quite right in maintaining that this course is a prerequisite for his. However, he was really saying much more than
that. The purpose of this course IS to prepare you for knowledge. So is the only real purpose of ANY legitimate course. All that is
required of you as a teacher is to follow Me.
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T 3 G 44. Whenever anyone decides that he can function only in SOME roles but not in others, he cannot BUT be attempting to
make a compromise which will not work. If B. is under the misbelief that he is coping with the fear problem by functioning as an
administrator and as a teacher of interns, but NOT as a teacher of students, he is merely deceiving himself. He owes himself greater
respect. There is nothing as tragic as the attempt to deceive one's self, because it implies that you perceive yourself as so unworthy
that deception is more fitting for you than truth. Either you can function in all of the roles you have properly undertaken to fill, or
you cannot function effectively in any of them. This IS an all or none decision. You CANNOT make inappropriate level distinctions
within this choice. You are either capable or not. This does not mean that you can DO everything, but it DOES mean that you are
either totally miracle-minded or not. This decision is open to NO compromise whatever. When B. says that he cannot teach, he is
making the same mistake that we spoke of before, when he acted as if universal laws applied to everyone except him. This is not
only arrogant, but patently untrue. Universal laws MUST apply to him, unless he does not exist. We will not bother to argue about
this.
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T 3 G 45. Descartes engaged in a very interesting teaching procedure, and one from which he himself learned a great deal. He began
with doubting the existence of everything, except himself. He insisted that his own existence was not open to doubt, and rebuilt his
entire thought system on the one premise "I think, therefore I am." It is noteworthy that he arrived at accepting the entire system he
originally doubted, solely on the basis of this ONE piece of knowledge. There was, however, a distinct shift in his own perception.
He no longer really questioned the reality of what he perceived, because he KNEW he was there.
T 3 G 46. We mentioned before that B. is not too sure of this, and that is why we suggested that he concentrate on "Lord, here I
am." A teacher is unlikely to be effective unless he begins with BEING THERE. B, this is not really open to question. You will lose
all your fear of teaching and relating in any form once you know who you are. There is no point whatever in remaining in the prison
of believing that this is up to you. You do NOT exist in different lights. It is this belief which has confused you about your own
reality. Why would you want to remain so obscure to yourself?
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T 3 H. Judgment and the Authority Problem.. (*N missing)
T 3 H 1. We have already discussed the Last Judgment in some though insufficient detail. After the Last Judgment, there isn't any
more. This is symbolic only in the sense that everybody is much better off WITHOUT judgment. When the Bible says "Judge not
that ye be not judged" it merely means that if you judge the reality of others at all, you will be unable to avoid judging your own.
The choice to judge rather than know has been the cause of the loss of peace. Judgment is the process on which perception but not
cognition rests. We covered this before in terms of selectivity. Evaluation was said at that time to be its obvious prerequisite.
T 3 H 2. Judgment ALWAYS involves rejection. It is not an ability which emphasizes ONLY the positive aspects of what is judged,
whether it be in or out of the self. However, what has been perceived and rejected, (or judged and found wanting) remains in the
unconscious because it HAS been perceived. Watson had a very relevant notion of the unconscious in this connection. In fact, it was
so relevant that he dropped it as officially out of accord with Behaviorism. He was right on both counts.
T 3 H 3. One of the illusions from which human perception suffers is that what it perceives and judges against has no effect. This
cannot be true, unless man also believes that what his judgment vetoes does not exist. He evidently does not believe this, or he
would not have judged against it.
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It does not really matter, in the end, whether you judge right or wrong. Either way, you are placing your belief in the unreal. This
cannot be avoided in any type of judgment, because it IMPLIES the belief that reality is yours to choose FROM.
T 3 H 4. Neither of you has any idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from meeting yourselves and your
brothers totally without judgment. If you will look back at the earlier notes about what you and your brothers ARE, you will realize
that judging them in any way is really without meaning. In fact, their meaning is lost to you precisely BECAUSE you ARE judging
them. All uncertainty comes from a totally fallacious belief that you are under the coercion of judgment. You do not need it to
organize your life, and you certainly do not need it to organize yourselves.
T 3 H 5. When you look upon knowledge, all judgment is automatically suspended, and this is the process that enables recognition
to REPLACE perception. Man is very fearful of everything he has perceived and refused to accept. He believes that because he has
refused to accept it, he has lost control over it. This is why he sees it in nightmares, or in pleasant disguise in what seems to be
happier dreams. Nothing that you have refused to accept can be brought into awareness. It does NOT follow that it is dangerous. But
it DOES follow that you have made it dangerous.
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T 3 H 6. When you feel tired, it is merely because you have judged yourself as capable of being tired. When you laugh at someone it
is because you have judged him as debased. When you laugh at yourself, you are singularly likely to laugh at others, if only because
you cannot tolerate being more debased THAN others. All of this does make you tired, because it is essentially disheartening. You
are not really capable of being tired, but you are very capable of wearying yourselves.
T 3 H 7. The strain of constant judgment is virtually intolerable. It is a curious thing that any ability which is so debilitating should
be so deeply cherished. But there is a very good reason for this. (This, however, depends upon what you mean by good.)
T 3 H 8. If you wish to be the author of reality, which is totally impossible anyway, then you will insist on holding on to judgment.
You will also use the term with considerable fear and believe that judgment will someday be used against you. To whatever extent it
IS used against you, it is due ONLY to your belief in its efficacy as a weapon of defense for your own authority.
T 3 H 9. The issue of authority is really a question of authorship. When an individual has a "authority problem," it is ALWAYS
because he believes he is the author of himself, and resents his own projection that you share his delusion in this respect. He then
perceives the situation as one in which two people are literally fighting for his own authorship. This is the fundamental
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error of all those who believe they have usurped the power of God.
T 3 H 10. The belief is very frightening to them, but hardly troubles God at all. He is, however, eager to undo it, not to punish His
children, but ONLY because He knows that it makes them unhappy. Souls were given their own true authorship, and men preferred
to remain anonymous when they chose to separate themselves FROM their Author. The word "authority" has been one of their most
fearful symbols ever since. Authority has been used for great cruelty, because, being uncertain of their true Authorship, men believe
that their creation was anonymous. This has left them in a position where it SOUNDS meaningful to consider the possibility that
they must have created themselves.
T 3 H 11. The dispute over authorship has left such uncertainty in the minds of man that some people have gone so far as to doubt
whether they were ever created at all. Despite the apparent contradiction in this position, it is in one sense more tenable than the
view that they created themselves. At least, it acknowledged the fact some TRUE authorship is necessary for existence.
T 3 H 12. Only those who give over all desire to reject can KNOW that their own rejection is impossible.
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You have not usurped the power of God, but you HAVE lost it. Fortunately, when you lose something, this does not mean that the
something has gone. It merely means that YOU do not know where it is. Existence does not depend on your ability to identify it, or
even to place it. It is perfectly possible to look on reality without judgment, and merely KNOW it is there. By knowing this, you are
not doubting its reality at all.
T 3 H 13. Peace is a natural heritage of the Soul. Everyone is free to refuse to accept his inheritance, but he is NOT free to establish
what his inheritance IS. The problem which everyone MUST decide is the fundamental question of his own authorship. All fear
comes ultimately, and sometimes by way of very devious routes, from the denial of Authorship. The offense is never to God, but
only to the denier himself. He has thrown away the reason for his own peace, and sees himself only in pieces. This strange
perception IS an authority problem. It is also the basis for castration anxiety, since both forms of error are fundamentally the same.
T 3 H 14. Neither you nor B. can find peace while this authority problem continues. But the truth is still that there IS no problem
about this. There is no man who does not feel that he is imprisoned in some way. If this has been the result of his own free will, he
must regard his will as if it were NOT free, or the obviously circular reasoning of his own position would be quite apparent.
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T 3 H 15. Free will MUST lead to freedom. Judgment always imprisons, because it separates segments of reality according to highly
unstable scales of desire. Wishes are not facts, by definition. To wish is to imply that willing is not sufficient. However, no-one
really believes that what is wished is as real as what is willed. Instead of "seek you first the Kingdom of Heaven" say "Will ye first
the Kingdom of Heaven," and you have said "I know what I am, and I will to accept my own inheritance."
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T 3 H 16. It is ESSENTIAL that this whole authority problem be voluntarily dismissed at once and for all before B's course. Neither
of you understands how important this is for your sanity. You are both quite insane on this point. (This is not a judgment. It is
merely a fact. (No, Helen, you SHOULD use the word "fact". This is just as much a fact as God is. A fact is literally a "making" or
a starting point. You DO start from this point, and your thinking is inverted because of it.)
T 3 I. Creating versus the Self-Image (*N 374 5:223)
T 3 I 1. Every system of thought MUST have a starting point. It begins with either a making or a creating, a difference which we
have already covered. Both are acts of will, except that making involves doing, and creating involves active willing. Their
resemblance lies in their power as FOUNDATIONS. Their difference lies in what rests upon them. Both are cornerstones for
systems of belief by which men live.
T 3 I 2. It is a mistake to believe that a thought-system which is based on lies is weak. NOTHING made by a child of God is without
power. It is absolutely essential that you realize this, because otherwise you will not understand why you have so much trouble with
this course, and will be unable to escape from the prisons you have (made) created for yourselves. (The use of creative here was an
error. You should have said made for yourself.)
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T 3 I 3. You have both made the error of the psychotherapist we described in some detail before, and it is particularly serious at this
time. You cannot resolve your authority problem by depreciating the power of your minds. It CAN hurt you if you misuse it,
because you KNOW its strength. You also know that you CANNOT weaken it any more than you can weaken God.
T 3 I 4. The devil is a frightening concept ONLY because he is thought of as extremely powerful and extremely active. He is
perceived as a force in combat with God, battling Him for possession of Souls. He deceives by lies, and builds kingdoms of his own,
in which everything is in direct opposition to God. Yet, he ATTRACTS men rather than repels them, and they are perceived as
willing to "sell" him their Souls in return for gifts they KNOW are of no real worth at all.
T 3 I 5. This makes absolutely no sense. The whole picture is one in which man acts in a way he HIMSELF realizes is self
destructive, but which he does NOT WILL to correct, and therefore perceives the cause as beyond his control.
T 3 I 6. We have discussed the fall or Separation before, but its meaning must be clearly understood, without symbols. The
Separation is NOT symbolic. It is an order of reality, or a system of thought that is PERFECTLY real in time, though not in
Eternity. All beliefs are real to the believer.
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T 3 I 7. The fruit of only ONE tree was "forbidden" to man in his symbolic garden. But God could not have forbidden it, or it could
not have BEEN eaten. If God knows His children, and I assure you he does, would he have put them in a position where their own
destruction was possible? The "tree" which was forbidden was correctly named "tree of knowledge." Yet God created knowledge,
and gave it freely to His Creations. The symbolism here is open to many interpretations, but you may be SURE that any
interpretation which perceives either God OR His creations as if they were capable of destroying their own Purpose is wrong.
T 3 I 8. Eating of the tree of knowledge is a symbolic expression for incorporating into the self the ability for self-creation. This is
the ONLY sense in which God and His souls are NOT co-creators. The belief that they ARE is implicit in the "self concept," a
concept now made acceptable by its WEAKNESS, and explained by a tendency of the self to create an IMAGE of itself. Its fear
aspect is usually ascribed to the "father figure," a particularly interesting idea, in view of the fact that nobody means the physical
father by the term. It refers to an IMAGE of a father in relation to an IMAGE of the self.
T 3 I 9. Once again, images are perceived, NOT known. Knowledge cannot deceive, but perception CAN. Man can perceive himself
as self-creating, but he CANNOT do more than BELIEVE it. He CANNOT make it true. I told you before that when you finally
perceive correctly, you can only be GLAD YOU CAN't.
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But until then, the belief that you CAN is the central foundation-stone in your thought-system, and all your defenses are used to
attack ideas which would bring it to light.
T 3 I 10. You and B. still believe you are images of your own creation. You are split with your own Souls on this point, and there is
NO resolution, because you believe the one thing that is literally INCONCEIVABLE. That is why you CANNOT create, and are
afraid to make or produce.
T 3 I 11. You, Helen, are CONSTANTLY arguing about the authorship of this course. This is NOT humility; it is a REAL authority
problem. You, Bill, really believe that by teaching you are assuming a dominant or father role, and that the "father figure" will kill
you. This is not humility either. Castration fears are a particularly distorted reflection of the real basic anxiety, or Separation fear.
T 3 I 12. The mind can make the belief in Separation VERY real and VERY fearful. And this belief IS the devil. It is powerful,
active, destructive, and clearly in opposition to God, because it literally denies His Fatherhood. Never underestimate the power of
this denial. Look at your lives and see what the devil has made. But KNOW that this making will surely dissolve in the light of
truth, because its foundation IS a lie.
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T 3 I 13. Your creation by God is the only foundation which cannot be shaken, because the light is IN it. Your starting point IS
truth, and you MUST return to this Beginning. Much has been perceived since then, but nothing else has happened. That is why
your Souls are still in peace, even though your minds are in conflict.
T 3 I 14. You have not yet gone back far ENOUGH and that is why you become so fearful. As you approach the beginning, you feel
the fear of the destruction of your thought-systems upon you, as if it were the fear of death. There IS no death, but there IS a belief
in death.
T 3 I 15. The Bible says that the tree that bears no fruit will be cut off and will wither away. Be glad! The light WILL shine from the
true Foundation of Life, and your own thought-systems WILL stand corrected. They CANNOT stand otherwise.
T 3 I 16. You who fear salvation are WILLING death. Life and death, light and darkness, knowledge and perception are
irreconcilable. To believe that THEY can be reconciled is to believe that God and man can NOT. Only the Oneness of Knowledge is
conflictless. Your Kingdom is not of this world because it was given you from BEYOND this world. Only IN this world is the idea
of an authority problem meaningful. The world is not left by death but by truth, and truth CAN be known by all those for whom the
Kingdom was created, and for whom it waits.
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CHAPTER 4 – THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
T 4 A. Introduction (*N 389 5:238)
T 4 A 1. (Aside to HS. You were both wise and devoted (two words which are literally interchangeable in the sense that they truly
bring on the exchange of one another.) in claiming your scribal functions and working so late. You HAD committed a serious error
against your brother, and one who had asked for your help. A devoted priestess does not do this. The Bible says you should go
WITH a brother twice as far as he asks. It certainly DOES NOT suggest that you set him BACK on his journey.
T 4 A 2. Devotion to a brother CANNOT set YOU back either. It can ONLY lead to mutual progress. The result of genuine
devotion is inspiration, a word which, properly understood is the OPPOSITE of fatigue. To be fatigued is to be DIS-spirited, but to
be inspired is to be IN the spirit. To be egocentric IS to be dispirited. But to be self-centered in the RIGHT sense is to be inspired, or
in the Soul. The truly inspired are enlightened, and cannot abide in darkness.
T 4 A 3. Do not attempt to break God's copyright, because His Authorship alone CAN copy right. Your own right authorship does
NOT lie in remaking His copies, but in creating LIKE Him.
T 4 A 4. Embarrassment is ALWAYS an expression of egocentricity, an association which has been made before. (Made, NOT
created. This kind of association is ALWAYS man-made). Both of you have completed the SCT stem: When I was called on to
speak—with—"I became embarrassed and COULD NOT SPEAK."
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This should be corrected to "Recognized my Authorship."
T 4 A 5. Tell B. that he cannot be embarrassed by his own words unless he believes that HE is responsible for them. We have
already corrected "word" to "thought," and he IS free to allocate the authorship for his thoughts as he elects. He can speak from his
Soul or from his ego, precisely as he chooses. If he speaks from his Soul, he has chosen to "be still and know that I am God." These
words are inspired, because they come from KNOWLEDGE. If he speaks from his ego, he is DISCLAIMING knowledge instead of
AFFIRMING it, and is thus dis-spiriting himself.
T 4 A 6. The dis-spirited have no choice BUT to be narcissistic, and to be narcissistic IS to place your faith in the unworthy. Your
real worth IS your divine authorship, and your Soul is its acknowledgement. I cannot guide your egos EXCEPT as you associate
them with your Souls.
T 4 A 7. Attacking misidentification errors is neither MY function nor YOURS. Destroying the devil is a meaningless undertaking.
Cervantes wrote an excellent symbolic account of this procedure, though he did not understand his own symbolism. The REAL
point of his writing was that his "hero" was a man who perceived himself as unworthy because he identified with his ego and
perceived its weakness. He then set about to alter his perception, NOT by correcting his misidentification, but by behaving
egotistically.
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T 4 A 8. Chesterton wrote an excellent description of Cervantes and his perception of his "unheroic hero," a view of man which the
ego tolerates all too frequently, but the Soul NEVER countenances:
"And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain Up which a lean and foolish knight forever rides in vain."
T 4 A 9. Do not embark on foolish journeys because they are indeed in vain. The ego may will them because the ego IS both lean
and foolish. But the Soul CANNOT embark on them because it is forever Unwilling to depart from its Foundation. The journey to
the cross should be the LAST foolish journey for every mind. Do not dwell upon it, but dismiss it as accomplished. If you can
accept that as YOUR OWN last foolish journey, you are free also to join My Resurrection. Human living has indeed been
needlessly wasted in repetition compulsion. It re-enacts the Separation, the loss of power, the foolish journey of the ego in its
attempt at reparation, and finally the crucifixion of the body, or death. Repetition compulsions can be endless, unless they are given
up by an act of will, or, more properly as active creation. Do not make the pathetic human error of "clinging to the old rugged
cross." The only message of the crucifixion is in respect for man's ability to OVERCOME the cross. Unless he does so, he is free to
crucify himself as often as he chooses. But this was NOT the gospel I intended to offer him.
T 4 A 10. We have another journey to undertake, and I hope that, if both of you will read these notes carefully, they will help to
prepare you to undertake it.
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T 4 B. Right Teaching and Right Learning (*N 403 5:252)
T 4 B 1. We have spoken of many different human symptoms, and at this level there IS almost endless variation. But there is only
one cause for all of them. The authority problem IS "the root of all evil". Money is but one of its many reflections, and is a
reasonably representative example of the kind of thinking which stems from it. The idea of buying and selling implies precisely the
kind of exchange that the Souls cannot understand at all, because their own Supply is always abundant, and all their demands are
fully met.
T 4 B 2. Every symptom which the ego has made involves a contradiction in terms. This is because the mind is split between the
ego and the Soul, so that WHATEVER the ego makes is incomplete and contradictory. Consider what a "speechless professor"
means as a concept. It literally means a "nonprofessing professor," or a "nonspeaking speaker".
T 4 B 3. Untenable positions such as this are the result of the authority problem, which, because it accepts the one inconceivable
thought as its premise, can only produce ideas which are inconceivable. B. may claim (and has certainly done so in the past) that the
PROFESSORSHIP was thrust upon him. This is not true. He wanted it very much, and also worked hard to get it. He would not
have had to work so hard either, if he had not misunderstood it.
T 4 B 4. The term "profess" is used quite frequently in the Bible, but in a somewhat different context. To profess is to identify with
an idea and offer the idea to others to be THEIR own. The idea does NOT lessen; it becomes STRONGER.
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The teacher clarifies his own ideas and strengthens them BY teaching them.
T 4 B 5. Teacher and pupil, therapist and patient, are all alike in the learning process. They are in the SAME order of learning, and
unless they SHARE their lessons they will lack conviction. If a salesman must believe in the product he sells, how much more must
a teacher believe in the ideas which he professes. But he needs another condition; he must also believe in the students to whom he
offers his ideas.
T 4 B 6. B. could not be afraid to teach unless he still believes that interaction means loss, and that learning means separation. He
stands guard over his own ideas, because he wants to protect this thought-system as it is, and learning MEANS change. Change is
always fearful to the separated, because they cannot conceive of it as a change toward HEALING the separation. They ALWAYS
perceive it as a change for further separation, because separation WAS their first experience of change.
T 4 B 7. Bill, your whole fear of teaching is nothing but an example of your own intense separation anxiety, which you have
handled with the usual series of mixed defenses in the combined pattern of attack on truth and defense of error, which characterizes
ALL ego-thinking.
T 4 B 8. You insist that if you allow no change to enter into your EGO, your SOUL will find peace. This profound confusion is
possible only if one maintains that the SAME thought-system can stand on two foundations.
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T 4 B 9. NOTHING can reach the Soul from the ego, and nothing FROM the Soul can strengthen the ego, or reduce the conflict
within it. The ego IS a contradiction. Man's self and God's Self ARE in opposition. They are opposed in creation, in will, and in
outcome. They are fundamentally irreconcilable because the Soul cannot perceive, and the ego cannot know. They are therefore
NOT IN COMMUNICATION, and can never BE in communication.
T 4 B 10. Nevertheless the ego can learn, because its maker can be misguided, but CANNOT make the totally lifeless out of the
life-given. The Soul need not be taught, but the ego MUST. The ultimate reason why learning or teaching is perceived as frightening is
because true learning DOES lead to the relinquishment (NOT destruction) of the ego to the light of the Soul. This is the change the
ego MUST fear, because it does not share my charity.
T 4 B 11. My lesson was like yours, and because I learned it I can teach it. I never attack your egos (in spite of H's strange beliefs to
the contrary), but I DO try to teach them how their thought-systems have arisen. When I remind you of your TRUE Creation, your
egos cannot BUT respond with fear.
T 4 B 12. Bill, teaching and learning are your greatest strengths now, because you MUST change your mind and help others change
theirs. It is pointless to refuse to tolerate change or changing because you believe that you can demonstrate by doing so that the
Separation never occurred. The dreamer who doubts the reality of his dream while he is still dreaming it is not really healing the
level-split.
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T 4 B 13. You HAVE dreamed of a separated ego, and you HAVE believed in a world which rested upon it. This is very real to you.
You cannot undo this by doing nothing and not changing.
T 4 B 14. If you are willing to renounce the role of guardians of your thought-systems and open them to me, I will correct them very
gently, and lead you home. Every good teacher hopes to give his students so much of his own thinking that they will one day no
longer need him. This is the one real goal of the parent, teacher, and therapist. This goal will not be achieved by those who believe
that they will LOOSE their child or pupil or patient if they succeed.
T 4 B 15. It is IMPOSSIBLE to convince the ego of this, because it goes against all of its own laws. But remember that laws are set
up to protect the continuity of the system in which the law-maker believes. It is natural enough for the ego to try to protect itself,
once YOU have made it. But it is NOT natural for YOU to want to obey its laws unless YOU believe in them.
T 4 B 16. The ego cannot make this choice because of the nature of its origin. But YOU can, because of the nature of YOURS. Egos
can clash in any situation, but Souls cannot clash at all. If you perceive a teacher as merely a "larger ego," you WILL be afraid,
because to ENLARGE an ego IS to increase separation anxiety. Do not engage in this foolishness, Bill. I will teach with you and
live with you, if you will think with me.
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T 4 B 17. But my goal will always be to absolve you finally from the need for a teacher. This is the OPPOSITE of the ego-oriented
teacher's goal. He is concerned with the effect of HIS ego on OTHER egos, and he therefore interprets their interaction as a means
of ego preservation. This is no less true if he is afraid to teach than if he is frankly out to dominate through teaching. The form of the
symptom is only a reflection of his particular way of handling the separation anxiety.
T 4 B 18. ALL separation anxiety is a symptom of a continuing will to remain separated. This cannot be repeated too often because
you have NOT learned it. Bill, you are afraid to teach ONLY because you are afraid of the impression your image of yourself will
make ON OTHER IMAGES. You believe that their APPROVAL of your image will exalt it, but also that your separation anxiety
will be increased. You also believe that their DISAPPROVAL of it will lessen the separation anxiety, but at the cost of depression.
T 4 B 19. I would not be able to devote myself to teaching if I believed either of these ideas, and YOU will not be a devoted teacher
yourself as long as you maintain them. I am constantly being perceived as a teacher either to be exalted or rejected, but I do not
accept either perception for myself.
T 4 B 20. Your own worth is NOT established by your teaching. Your worth was established by God. As long as you dispute this,
EVERYTHING you do will be fearful, and particularly any situation which lends itself easily to the superior-inferior fallacy.
Teachers must be patient, and repeat their lessons until they are learned. I am willing to do so, because I have no right to set your
learning limits for you.
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T 4 B 21. Once again,—NOTHING you do, or think, or will, or make is necessary to establish your worth. This point IS NOT
DEBATABLE except in delusions. Your ego is NEVER at stake because God did not create it. Your Soul is never at stake because
He DID. Any confusion on this point IS a delusion, and no form of devotion is possible as long as this delusion lasts.
T 4 B 22. Bill, if you will to be a devoted teacher rather than an egocentric one, you will not be afraid. The teaching situation IS
fearful if it is misused as an ego involvement. If you become afraid, it is BECAUSE you are using it this way. But the devoted
teacher perceives the situation AS IT IS, and NOT as HE wills it. He does not see it as dangerous because HE is not exploiting it.
T 4 B 23. The ego tries to exploit ALL situations into forms of praise for itself in order to overcome its doubts. It will be doubtful
forever, or better, as long as you believe in it. You who made it CANNOT trust it, because you KNOW it is not real. The ONLY
sane solution is not to try to change reality, which is indeed a fearful attempt, but to see it as it is. YOU are part of reality, which
stands unchanged beyond the reach of your ego, but within easy reach of your Soul.
T 4 B 24. Bill, again I tell you that when you are afraid, be still and KNOW that God is real and YOU are His beloved son in whom
he is well pleased. Do not let your ego dispute this, because the ego cannot know what is as far beyond its reach as you are. God is
NOT the author of fear. YOU are.
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You have willed, therefore, to create unlike Him, and you have made fear for yourselves.
T 4 B 25. You are not at peace, because you are not fulfilling your function. God gave you a very lofty responsibility which you are
not meeting. You KNOW this, and you are afraid. But your egos have chosen to be afraid INSTEAD of meeting it. When you
awaken you will not be able to understand this, because it is literally incredible.
T 4 B 26. DO NOT BELIEVE THE INCREDIBLE NOW. Any attempt to increase its believableness is merely to postpone the
inevitable. The word "inevitable" is fearful to the ego, but joyous to the Soul. God IS inevitable and you CANNOT avoid Him
any more than He can avoid YOU.
T 4 B 27. The ego is afraid of the Soul's joy, because once you have experienced this, you will withdraw all protection from your
ego and become totally without investment in fear. Your investment is great now, because fear is a witness to the Separation, and
your ego rejoices when you witness to it.
T 4 B 28. Leave it behind. Do not listen to it, and do not preserve it. Listen only to God, who is as incapable of deception as are the
Souls he created. As teachers and therapists, release yourselves and release others. Do not present a false and unworthy picture of
yourselves TO others, or accept such a picture OF them yourselves.
T 4 B 29. The ego has built a shabby and unsheltering home for you, because it cannot build otherwise. Do not try to make this
impoverished house stand. ITS weakness IS your strength. Only God could make a home that was worthy of His Creations, who
have chosen to leave it empty by their own dispossession.
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T 4 B 30. His Home will stand forever, and is ready for you when you choose to enter. Of this you can be wholly certain. God is as
incapable of creating the perishable as your ego is making the eternal.
T 4 B 31. Of your egos you can do nothing to save yourselves or others. But of your Souls you can do everything for the salvation
of both. Humility is a lesson for the ego, not for the Soul. The Soul is beyond humility, because it recognizes its radiance, and gladly
sheds its light everywhere.
T 4 B 32. The meek shall inherit the earth because their egos are humble, and this gives them better perception. The Kingdom of
Heaven is the right of the Soul, whose beauty and dignity are beyond doubt, beyond perception, and stand forever as the mark of the
love of God for His Creations, who are wholly worthy of Him and ONLY of Him. Nothing else is sufficiently worthy to be a gift for
a creation of God Himself.
T 4 B 33. I will substitute for your ego if you will, but NEVER for your Soul. A father can safely leave a child with an elder brother
who has shown himself responsible, but this involves no confusion about the child's origin. The brother can protect the child's body
and his ego, which are very closely associated, but he does not confuse HIMSELF with the father because he does this, although the
child may.
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T 4 B 34. The reason why I can be entrusted with YOUR body and YOUR egos is simply because this enables YOU not to be
concerned with them, and ME to teach you their unimportance. I could not understand their importance to YOU if I had not once
been tempted to believe them myself. Let us undertake to learn this lesson together, so we can also be free of them together.
T 4 B 35. I need devoted teachers as much as I need devoted priestesses. They both heal the mind, and that is always my own aim.
The Soul is far beyond the need of your protection OR mine.
T 4 B 36. The Biblical quotation should read "In this world you need NOT have tribulation BECAUSE I have overcome the world."
THAT is why you should "be of good cheer."
T 4 B 37. B's course was very carefully chosen, because "abnormal psychology" IS ego psychology. This is precisely the kind of
content which should never be taught FROM the ego whose abnormality should be lessened by teaching, not increased. You, Bill,
are particularly well suited to perceive this difference, and can therefore teach this course as it should be taught. Most teachers have
an unfortunate tendency to teach the COURSE abnormally, and many of the students are apt to suffer considerable perceptual
distortion because of their own authority problem.
T 4 B 38. Your teaching assignment (and I assure you it IS an assignment) will be to present perceptual distortions without either
engaging in them yourself, or encouraging your students to do so. This interpretation of your role and theirs is too charitable to
induce fear.
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If you adhere to this role, you will both engender and experience hope, and you will inspire rather than dispirit the future teachers
and therapists I am entrusting to you.
T 4 B 39. I promise to attend myself, and you should at least credit with me with some dependability in keeping my own promises. I
never make them lightly, because I know the need my brothers have for trust.
T 4 C. The Ego and False Autonomy (*N 439 6:3)
T 4 C 1. Bill has asked lately how the mind could ever have made the ego. This is a perfectly reasonable question; in fact, the best
question either of you could ask. There is no point in giving an historical answer, because the past does not matter in human terms,
and history would not exist if the same errors were not being repeated in the present. B. has often told you that your thinking is too
abstract at times, and he is right. Abstraction DOES apply to knowledge, because knowledge is completely impersonal, and
examples are irrelevant to its understanding. Perception, however, is always specific, and therefore quite concrete.
T 4 C 2. Perceptual distortions are not abstractions. They are merely confusions. Each man makes one ego for himself, although it is
subject to enormous variation because of its instability, and one for everyone he perceives, which is equally variable. Their
interaction IS a process which literally alters both, because they were not made either BY or WITH the unalterable.
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T 4 C 3. It is particularly important to realize that this alteration can and does occur as readily when the interaction takes place IN
THE MIND as when it involves physical presence. THINKING about another ego is as effective in changing relative perception as
is their physical interaction. There could be no better example of the fact that the ego is an idea, though not a reality-based thought.
Your own present state is the best concrete example B. could have of how the mind could have made the ego. You DO have real
knowledge at times, but when you throw it away it is as if you never had it. This willfullness is so apparent that B. need only
perceive it to see that is DOES happen. If it can occur that way in the present, why should he be surprised that it occurred that way
in the past? All psychology rests on the principle of continuity of behavior. Surprise is a reasonable response to the unfamiliar, but
hardly to something that has occurred with such persistence.
T 4 C 4. An extreme example is a good teaching aid, not because it is typical, but because it is clear. The more complex the
material, the clearer the examples should be for teaching purposes. (Bill, remember that for your own course, and do not avoid the
dramatic. It holds the student's interest precisely because it is so apparent that it CAN be readily perceived.) But, as we have said
before, all teaching devices in the hands of good teachers are aimed at rendering themselves unnecessary. I would therefore like to
use your present state as an example of how the mind can work, provided you both fully recognize that it need not work that way.
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I NEVER forget this myself, and a good teacher shares his own ideas, which he himself believes. Otherwise, he cannot really
"profess" them, as we used the term before.
T 4 C 5. With full recognition of its transitory nature, (a recognition which I hope you both share), H. offers a very good teaching
example of alternations between Soul and ego, with concomitant variation between peace and frenzy. In answer to B's question, it is
perfectly apparent that when she is ego-dominated, she DOES NOT KNOW her Soul. Her abstract ability, which is perfectly
genuine and does stem from knowledge, cannot help her because she has turned to the concrete which she cannot handle abstractly.
Being incapable of appropriate concreteness perceptually, because her ego is not her natural home, she suffers from its intrusions,
but NOT from complete lack of knowledge.
T 4 C 6. The result is a kind of "double vision", which would have produced an actual diplopia, if she had not settled for
nearsightedness. This was an attempt to see the concrete more clearly through the ego's eyes, without the "interference" of the
longer range. Her virtual lack of astigmatism is due to her real efforts at objectivity and fairness. She has not attained them, or she
would not be nearsighted. But she HAS tried to be fair with what she permitted herself to see.
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T 4 C 7. Why are you surprised that something happened in the dim past, when it is so clearly happening right now? You forget the
love that even animals have for their own offspring, and the need they feel to protect them. This is because they regard them as part
of themselves. No-one disowns something he regards as a very real part of himself. Man reacts to his ego much as God does to His
Souls, -- with love, protection, and great charity. The reaction of man to the self he made is not at all surprising. In fact, it duplicates
in many ways the way he will one day react to his real creations, which are as timeless as he is.
T 4 C 8. The question is not HOW man responds toward his ego, but only what he believes he IS. Again, belief is an ego-function,
and as long as your origin is open to belief at all, you ARE regarding it from an ego viewpoint. That is why the Bible quotes me as
saying, "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." Belief DOES apply to me, because I am the teacher of the ego. When teaching is no
longer necessary, you will merely know God.
T 4 C 9. Belief that there IS another way is the loftiest idea of which ego-thinking is capable. This is because it contains a hint of
recognition that the ego is NOT the self. Helen always had this idea, but it merely confused her. B., you were more capable of a
long-range view, and that is why your eyesight is good. But you were willing to see because you utilized judgment against what you
saw. This gave you clearer perception than Helen's, but cut off the cognitive level more deeply. That is why you believe that you
never had knowledge.
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T 4 C 10. Repression HAS been a stronger mechanism in your own ego defense, and that is why you find her shifts so hard to
tolerate. Willfullness is more characteristic of her, and that is why she has less sense than you do. It is extremely fortunate,
temporarily, that the particular strengths you will both develop and use are precisely those which the other must supply now. You
who will be the strength of God are quite weak, and you who will be God's help are clearly in need of help. What better plan could
have been devised to prevent the intrusion of the ego's arrogance on the outcome?
T 4 C 11. Undermining the foundation of an ego's thought-system MUST be perceived as painful, even though this is anything but
true. Babies scream in rage if you take away a knife or a scissors, even though they may well harm themselves if you do not. The
speedup has placed you both in the same position.
T 4 C 12. You are NOT by any means prepared, and in this sense you ARE babies. You have no sense of real self-preservation and
are very likely to decide that you need precisely what would hurt you most. Whether you know it now or not, however, you both
HAVE willed to cooperate in a concerted and very commendable effort to become both harmLESS and helpFUL, two attributes
which MUST go together. Your attitudes, even toward this, are necessarily conflicted, because ALL attitudes are ego-based.
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T 4 C 13. This will not last. Be patient awhile, and remember what we have said once before; the outcome is as certain as God!
Helen used to perceive the quotation "To him that hath shall be given" as a paradox that bordered on the ironic. She also had a
similar reaction to another related one: "Faith is the gift of God." We have re-interpreted both of these statements before, but perhaps
we can make them even clearer now.
T 4 C 14. Only those who have a real and lasting sense of abundance can be truly charitable. This is quite obvious when you
consider the concepts involved. To be able to give anything implies that you can do without it. Even if you associate giving with
sacrifice, you still give only because you believe you are somehow getting something better so that you can do without the thing you
give.
T 4 C 15. "Giving to get" is an inescapable law of the ego, which ALWAYS evaluates itself in relation to others’ egos, and is
therefore continually preoccupied with the scarcity principle which gave rise to it. This IS the meaning of Freud's "pleasure
principle." Freud was the most accurate "ego psychologist" we ever had, although he would not have preferred this description
himself. His ego was a very weak and deprived concept, which could function ONLY as a thing in need.
T 4 C 16. The "reality principle" of the ego is not real at all. It is forced to perceive the "reality" of other egos, because it CANNOT
establish the reality of itself. In fact, its whole perception of other egos AS real is ONLY an attempt to convince itself that IT is real.
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T 4 C 17. "Self esteem," in ego terms, means nothing more than that the ego has deluded itself into accepting its reality and is
therefore temporarily less predatory. This "self esteem" is always vulnerable to stress, a term which really means that a condition
has arisen in which the delusion of reality of the ego is threatened. This produces either ego-deflation or ego-inflation, resulting in
either withdrawal or attack. The ego literally lives by comparisons. This means that equality is beyond its grasp, and charity
becomes impossible.
T 4 C 18. The ego NEVER gives out of abundance, because it was made as a substitute for it. This is why the concept of GETTING
arose in the ego's thought-system. All appetites are "getting" mechanisms representing ego needs to confirm itself. This is as true of
bodily appetites as it is of the so-called "higher" ego needs. Bodily appetites are NOT physical in origin, because the ego regards the
body as its home, and DOES try to satisfy itself through the body. But the IDEA that this is possible is a decision of the ego, which
is completely confused about what is really possible. This accounts for its essential erraticness.
T 4 C 19. Consider the inevitable confusion which MUST arise from a perception of the self which responds: When I was
completely on my own I "had no idea what was possible."
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The ego DOES believe it is completely on its own, which is merely another way of describing how it originated. This is such a
fearful state that it can only turn to other egos, and unite with them in a feeble attempt at identification, or attack them in an equally
feeble show of strength. The ego is free to complete the stem: "When I was completely on my own" in any way it chooses, but it is
NOT free to consider the validity of the premise itself, because this premise is its FOUNDATION. The ego IS the belief of the mind
that it is completely on its own.
T 4 C 20. The ego's ceaseless attempts to gain the Soul's acknowledgement and thus establish its own existence are utterly useless.
The Soul in its knowledge is unaware of the ego. It does NOT attack the ego. It merely cannot conceive of it at all. While the ego is
equally unaware of the Soul, it DOES perceive itself as rejected by something which is greater than itself. This is why self-esteem in
ego terms MUST be a delusion.
T 4 C 21. The creations of God do not create myths, but the creative efforts of man can turn to mythology, but only under one
condition. What man then makes is no longer creative. Myths are entirely perceptions and are so ambivalent in form, and so
characteristically good and evil in nature that the most benevolent of them is not without fearful components, if only in innuendo.
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Myths and magic are closely associated, in that myths are usually related to the ego origins, and magic to the powers which the ego
ascribes to itself. Every mythological system includes an account of "the creation," and associates this with its particular perception
of magic.
T 4 C 22. The "battle for survival" is nothing more than the ego's struggle to preserve itself and its interpretation of its own
beginning. This beginning is always associated with physical birth, because nobody maintains that the ego existed before that point
in time. The religiously ego-oriented tend to believe that the Soul existed before, and will continue to exist afterwards, after a
temporary lapse into ego-life. Some actually believe that the Soul will be punished for this lapse, even though in reality it could not
possibly know anything about it.
T 4 C 23. The term "salvation" does NOT apply to the Soul, which is not in danger and does not need to be salvaged. Salvation is
nothing more that "right-mindedness" which is NOT the one-mindedness of the Soul, but which must be accomplished before
one-mindedness can be restored. Right-mindedness dictates the next step automatically, because right perception is uniformly without
attack, so that wrong-mindedness is obliterated. The ego cannot survive without judgment, and is laid aside accordingly. The mind
then has only ONE direction in which it can move.
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T 4 C 24. The directions which the mind will take are always automatic, because they cannot BUT be dictated by the
thought-system to which it adheres. Every thought-system has INTERNAL consistency, and this does provide a basis for the continuity of
behavior. However, this is still reliability and NOT validity. Reliable behavior is a meaningful perception, as far as ego thinking
goes. However, VALID behavior is an expression which is inherently contradictory, because validity is an END, and behavior is a
means. These cannot be combined logically, because when an end has been attained, the means for its attainment are no longer
meaningful.
T 4 C 25. Test constructors recognize that there are different kinds of validity, and also that they are of different orders. This means
that they do not mean truth and do not pretend to mean it. Test validity can be judged by logic, by theory, and by practice, each
being regarded as a different dimension. In each case, the amount of confidence is expressed in some form of percentage, either
quantitatively, or merely in terms of "high," moderate, and low. But a hypothesis is tested as either true or false, to be accepted or
rejected accordingly. If it is shown to be true it becomes a fact, after which no-one attempts to evaluate it unless its status AS fact is
questioned.
T 4 C 26. EVERY idea which the ego has accorded the status of fact is questionable, because facts are in the realm of knowledge.
Confusing realms of discourse is a thinking error which philosophers have recognized for centuries. Psychologists are generally
quite deficient in this respect, as are many theologians. Data from one realm of discourse do not mean anything in another,
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because they can be understood only WITHIN the thought-systems of which they are a part. This is why psychologists are concentrating
increasingly on the ego, in an attempt to unify their clearly unrelated data. It need hardly be said that an attempt to relate the
unrelated cannot succeed.
T 4 C 27. The recent ecological emphasis is but a more ingenious way of trying to impose order on chaos. We have already credited
the ego with considerable ingenuity, though not with creativeness. But it should always be remembered that inventiveness is really
wasted effort, even in its most ingenious forms. We do not have to EXPLAIN anything. This is why we need not trouble ourselves
with inventiveness. The highly specific nature of invention is not worthy of the abstract creativity of God's Creations.
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T 4 D. Love without Conflict (*N 456 6:20)
T 4 D 1. When H. reads this to you, Bill, try to listen very carefully. You have never understood what "The Kingdom of Heaven is
within you" means. The reason you cannot understand it is because it is NOT understandable to the ego, which interprets it as if
something outside is inside, which does not mean anything. The word "within" does not belong. The Kingdom of Heaven IS you.
T 4 D 2. What else BUT you did the Creator create, and what else but you IS His Kingdom? This is the whole message of the
Atonement, a message which in its totality transcends the sum of its parts which we have covered before. Christmas is not a time; it
is a state of mind. The Christ Mind wills from the Soul, not from the Ego, and the Christ Mind IS yours.
T 4 D 3. You, too, have a Kingdom which your Soul has created. It has not ceased to create because your ego has set you on the
road of perception. Your Soul's creations are no more fatherless than you are. Your ego and your Soul will never be co-creators, but
your Soul and YOUR Creator will ALWAYS be. Be confident that your creations are as safe as you are. The Kingdom is perfectly
united and perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it. Amen.
T 4 D 4. That was written in that form because it is a good thing to use as a kind of prayer in moments of temptation. It is a
declaration of independence. You will both find it very helpful if you understand it fully.
T 4 D 5. In its characteristic upside-down way, the ego has taken the impulses from the superconscious and perceives them as if
they arise in the unconscious. The ego judges what is to be accepted, and the impulses from the superconscious are unacceptable to
it, because they clearly point to the unexistence of the ego itself.
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The ego therefore experiences threat, and not only censors but also re-interprets the data. However, as Freud very correctly pointed
out what you do not perceive you still know, and it can retain a very active life BEYOND your awareness.
T 4 D 6. Repression thus operates to conceal not only the baser impulses, but also the most lofty ones from the ego's awareness,
because BOTH are threatening to the ego and, being concerned primarily with its preservation in the face of threat, it perceives them
as the same. The threat value of the lofty is really much greater to the ego, because the pull of God Himself can hardly be equated
with the pull of human appetites.
T 4 D 7. By perceiving them as the same, the ego attempts to save itself from being swept away, as it would surely be in the
presence of knowledge. The upper level of the unconscious thus contains the call of God as well as the call of the body. That is why
the basic conflict between love and fear is unconscious. The ego cannot tolerate either and represses both by resorting to inhibition.
Society depends on inhibiting the former, but SALVATION depends on disinhibiting the latter.
T 4 D 8. The reason you need my help is because you have repressed your own guide, and therefore need guidance. My role is to
separate the true from the false in your own unconscious, so it can break through the barriers the ego has set up and shine into your
minds. Against our united strength, the ego CANNOT prevail.
T 4 D 9. It should be quite apparent to you by now why the ego regards the Soul as its "enemy." The ego arose from the Separation,
and its
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continued existence depends on your continuing belief in the Separation. Reducing the Soul impulses to the unconscious, the ego
has to offer you some sort of reward for maintaining this belief. All it CAN offer is a sense of temporary existence, which begins
with its own beginning and ends with its own ending. It tells you that this life is YOUR existence because it IS its own.
T 4 D 10. Against this sense of temporary existence, the Soul offers the knowledge of permanence and unshakeable BEING. No-one
who has experienced the revelation of this can ever fully believe in the ego again. How can its meager offering to you prevail
against the glorious gift of God?
T 4 D 11. You who identify with your egos cannot believe that God loves you. YOU do not love what you have made, and what you
have made does not love you. Being made out of the denial of the Father, the ego has no allegiance to its own Maker. You cannot
conceive of the real relationship that exists between God and His Souls, because of the hatred you have for the Self you have made.
You project onto your own idea of yourself the will to separate, which conflicts with the love you also feel for what you have made
because you made it.
T 4 D 12. No human love is without this ambivalence, and since no ego has experienced love WITHOUT ambivalence, the concept
is beyond its understanding. Love will enter immediately into any mind which truly wants it, but it MUST want it truly. This means
that it wants it WITHOUT ambivalence, and this kind of wanting is wholly without the ego's "drive to get."
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T 4 D 13. There is a kind of experience that is so different from anything the ego can offer that you will never recover. The word is
used quite literally here, -- you will never be able to hide again. It is necessary to repeat that your belief in darkness and in hiding IS
why the light cannot enter.
T 4 D 14. The Bible has many references to the immeasurable gifts which are for you, but for which YOU must ask. This is not the
condition as the ego sets conditions. It is the glorious condition of what you ARE. No force except your own will is strong enough
or worthy enough to guide you. In this you are as free as God, and must remain so forever.
T 4 D 15. You can never be bound except in honor, and that is always voluntary. Let us ask the Father in my name to keep you
mindful of His love for you and yours for Him. He has never failed to answer this request, because it asks only for what He has
already willed. Those who call truly are ALWAYS answered.
T 4 D 16. Note: HS became very fearful here, and rather vaguely thought the answer was: "Thou shalt have no other Gods before
me, because there ARE none. You still think there are."
T 4 D 17. It has never really entered your minds to give up every idea you have ever had that OPPOSES knowledge. You retain
thousands of little scraps of meanness which prevent the Holy One from entering. Light cannot penetrate through the walls you
make to block it, and it is forever UNwilling to destroy what you have made. No-one can see THROUGH a wall, but I can step
around it.
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T 4 D 18. Watch your minds for the scraps of meanness, or you will be unable to ask me to do so. I can help you only as our Father
Created us. I will love you and honor you and maintain complete respect for what you have made. But I will neither love nor honor
it unless it is true. I will never forsake you, any more than God will. But I MUST wait as long as you will to forsake yourselves.
T 4 D 19. Because I wait in love and not in impatience, you will surely ask me truly. I will come gladly in response to a single
unequivocal call. Watch carefully, and see what it is you are truly asking for. Be very honest with yourselves about this, for you we
must hide nothing from each other.
T 4 D 20. If you will REALLY try to do this, you have taken the first step toward preparing your minds for the Holy One to enter.
We will prepare for this together, and once He has come, you will be ready to help me make other minds ready for Him. How long
will you deny Him His Kingdom?
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T 4 D 21. In your own unconscious, deeply repressed by the ego, is the declaration of your release. GOD HAS GIVEN YOU
EVERYTHING. This is the one fact which MEANS that the ego does not exist, and which therefore makes it profoundly afraid. In
the ego's language, to have and to be are different, but they are identical to the Soul. It knows that you both HAVE everything and
ARE everything. Any distinction in this respect is meaningful only when the idea of getting, which implies a lack, has already
BEEN accepted. That is why we made no distinction before between having the Kingdom of God and BEING the Kingdom of God.
T 4 D 22. The calm being of God's Kingdom, which in your sane mind is perfectly conscious, is ruthlessly banished from the part of
the mind which the ego rules. The ego is desperate because it opposes literally invincible odds whether you are asleep or awake.
Consider how much vigilance you have been willing to exert to protect your ego, and how little you have been willing to exert to
protect your higher mind. Who but the insane would undertake to believe what is not true, and then protect this belief at the cost of
Truth?
T 4 E. The Escape from Fear (*N 467 6:31)
T 4 E 1. If you cannot hear the voice of God, it is because you do not choose to listen. The fact that you DO listen to the voice of
your ego is demonstrated by your attitudes, your feelings, and your behavior. Your attitudes are obviously conflicted; your feelings
have a narrow range on the negative side, but are never purely joyous; and your behavior is either strained or unpredictable.
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Yet this IS what you want. This is what you are fighting to keep, and what you are vigilant to save. Your minds are filled with
schemes to save the face of your egos, and you do not seek the Face of God.
T 4 E 2. The glass in which the ego seeks to see its face is dark indeed. How can it maintain the trick of its existence except with
mirrors? But where you look to find yourself is up to you. We have said that you cannot change your mind by changing your
behavior, but we have also said, and many times before, that you can change your mind.
T 4 E 3. When your mood tells you that you have willed wrongly, and this is so whenever you are not joyous, then KNOW this need
not be.
T 4 E 4. In every case you have thought wrongly about some Soul that God created, and are perceiving images your ego makes in a
darkened glass. Think honestly what you have thought that God would NOT have thought, and what you have not thought that God
would have you think. Search sincerely for what you have done and left undone accordingly. And then change your minds to
THINK WITH GOD's.
T 4 E 5. This may seem hard to you, but it is MUCH easier than trying to think AGAINST it. Your mind IS one with God's.
Denying this and thinking otherwise has held your ego together, but has literally split your mind. As a loving brother, I am deeply
concerned with your minds, and urge you to follow my example as you look at yourselves and at each other and see in both the
glorious Creations of a glorious Father.
T 4 E 6. When you are sad, KNOW that this NEED NOT BE. Depression ALWAYS arises ultimately from a sense of being
deprived of something you want and do not have.
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Know you are deprived of nothing, except by your own decisions, and then decide otherwise.
T 4 E 7. When you are anxious, KNOW that all anxiety comes from the capriciousness of the ego, and NEED NOT BE. You can be
as vigilant AGAINST the ego's dictates as FOR them.
T 4 E 8. When you feel guilty, KNOW that your ego has indeed violated the laws of God, but YOU have not. Leave the sins of the
ego to me. That is what the Atonement is for. But until you change your mind about those your ego has hurt, the Atonement cannot
release you. As long as you feel guilty, your ego is in command, because only the ego CAN experience guilt. THIS NEED NOT BE.
T 4 E 9. You, Helen, have been more honest that B. in really trying to see whom your ego has hurt, and also in trying to change your
mind about them. (HS doubtful whether this is accurate -- written at a time when she was very angry.) I am not unmindful of your
efforts, but you still have much too much energy invested in your ego. THIS NEED NOT BE. Watch your minds for the temptations
of the ego, and do not be deceived by it. KNOW it offers you nothing.
T 4 E 10. You, B, have not made consistent efforts to change your mind except through applying old habit patterns to new ideas.
But you have learned, and learned it better than H., (HS doubtful about accuracy here) that your mind gains control over ITSELF
when you direct it genuinely toward perceiving someone ELSE truly. Your lack of vitality is due to your former marked effort at
solving your needless depression and anxiety through disinterest. Because your ego WAS protected by this unfortunate negative
attribute, you are afraid to abandon it.
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T 4 E 11. When you have given up this voluntary dis-spiriting, you have already seen how your mind can focus, and rise above
fatigue, and heal. But you are not sufficiently vigilant against the demands of your ego that you disengage yourself. THIS NEED
NOT BE. The habit of engaging WITH God and His Creations is easily made if you refuse actively to let your minds slip away.
Your problem is not concentration: it is a belief that nobody, including yourself, is WORTH consistent effort.
T 4 E 12. Side with me CONSISTENTLY against this deception, as we have sided against it briefly already. Do not permit this
shabby belief to pull you back. The disheartened are useless to themselves and to me, but only the ego can be disheartened.
T 4 E 13. Have you REALLY considered how many opportunities you have to gladden yourselves, and how many of them you have
refused? There is no limit to the power of a Son of God, but he himself can limit the expression of his power as much as he wills.
Your mind and mine can unite in shining your ego away, and releasing the strength of God into everything you think and will and
do. Do no settle for ANYTHING less than this, and refuse to accept anything BUT this as your goal.
T 4 E 14. Watch your minds carefully for any beliefs that hinder its accomplishment, and step away from them. Judge how well you
have done this by your own feelings, for this is the one RIGHT use of judgment. Judgment , like any other defense, can be used to
attack or protect, to hurt or to heal. The ego SHOULD be brought to your own judgment and found wanting there. Without your
own allegiance, protection, and love it cannot exist.
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T 4 E 15. Judge your ego truly, and you MUST withdraw allegiance, protection, and love from it. You are mirrors of truth in which
God Himself shines in perfect light. To the ego's dark glass you need but say, "I will not look there because I KNOW these images
are not true."
T 4 E 16. Then let me the Holy One shine upon you in peace, knowing that this and only this MUST be His Mind shone on you in
your creation, and brought YOUR mind into being. His Mind still shines on you and MUST shine THROUGH you. Your ego
cannot prevent HIM from shining on you, but it CAN prevent you from letting Him shine THROUGH you.
T 4 E 17. The first coming of Christ is just another name for the Creation, for Christ is the Son of God. The SECOND coming of
Christ means nothing more than the end of the ego's rule over part of the minds of men, and the healing of the mind. I was created
like you in the First, and I am reminding you that I have called you to join with me in the Second.
T 4 E 18. If you will think over your lives, you will see how carefully the preparations were made. I am in charge of the Second
Coming as I have already told you, and my judgment, which is used only for its protection, cannot be wrong because it NEVER
attacks. Yours is so distorted that you believe that I was mistaken in choosing you. I assure you this is a mistake of your own egos.
Do not mistake it for humility.
T 4 E 19. Your egos are trying to convince you that THEY are real, and I am not, because if I AM real, I am no more real than YOU
are. That knowledge, and I assure you that it IS knowledge, means that Christ must come into your minds and heal them.
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T 4 E 20. While I am not attacking your egos, I AM working with your higher mind whether you are asleep or awake, (just as your
ego does with your lower mind.) I am your vigilance in this, because you are too confused to recognize your own hope.
T 4 E 21. I was not mistaken. Your minds WILL elect to join with mine, and together we are invincible. You two will yet come
together in my name and your sanity will be restored. I raised the dead by KNOWING that life is an eternal attribute of everything
that the living God Created. Why do you believe that it is harder for me to inspire the dis-spirited or to stabilize the unstable? I do
not believe that there is an order of difficulty in miracles: YOU do. I have called and you will answer. I know that miracles are
natural, because they are expressions of love. My calling you is as natural as your answer and as inevitable.
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T 4 F. The Ego-Body Illusion (*N 477 6:41)
T 4 F 1. ALL things work together for good. There are NO exceptions except in the ego's judgment. Control is a central factor in
what the ego permits into consciousness, and one to which it devotes its maximum vigilance. This is NOT the way a balanced mind
holds together. ITS control is unconscious.
T 4 F 2. The ego is further off balance by keeping its primary motivation UNconscious, and raising control rather than sensible
judgment to predominance. It has every reason to do this, according to the thought-system which both gave rise to it and which it
serves. Sane judgment would inevitably judge AGAINST it, and MUST be obliterated by the ego in the interest of its
self-preservation.
T 4 F 3. A crucial source of the ego's off-balance state is its lack of discrimination between impulses from God and from the body.
Any thought-system which makes THIS confusion MUST be insane. Yet this demented state is ESSENTIAL to the ego, which
judges ONLY in terms of threat or nonthreat TO ITSELF.
T 4 F 4. In one sense, the ego's fear of the idea of God is at least logical, because this idea DOES dispel it. Fear of dissolution from
the higher source, then, makes SOME sense in ego terms. But fear of the body, with which the ego identifies so closely, is more
blatantly senseless. The body is the ego's home by its own election. It is the only identification with which it feels safe, because the
body's vulnerability is its own best argument that you CANNOT be of God.
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T 4 F 5. This is the belief that it sponsors eagerly. Yet the ego hates the body, because it does not accept the idea that the body is
good enough as its home. Here is where the mind becomes actually dazed. Being told by the ego that it is really part of the body,
and that the body is its protector, it is also constantly informed that the body can NOT protect it. This, of course, is not only true, but
perfectly obvious.
T 4 F 6. Therefore, the mind asks, "Where can I go for protection?", to which the ego replies, "Turn to me." The mind, and not
without cause, reminds the ego that it has itself insisted that it IS identified with the body, so there is no point in turning to it for
protection. The ego has no real answer to this because there isn't any. But it DOES have a typical solution. It obliterates the question
from the mind's awareness. Once unconscious, it can and does produce uneasiness, but it cannot be answered because it cannot be
asked.
T 4 F 7. This is the question which MUST be asked: "Where am I to go for protection?" Only an insane mind FAILS to ask it. Even
the insane ask it unconsciously, but it requires real sanity to ask it consciously.
T 4 F 8. If you will remember your dream about the recorder, which was remarkably accurate in some ways because it came partly
from ego-repressed knowledge, the real problem was correctly stated as "What is the question?"
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because, as you very well knew, the answer COULD be found if the question were recognized. If you remember, there were a
number of solutions you attempted, all ego-based, not because you thought they would really work, but because the question
ITSELF was obscure.
T 4 F 9. When the Bible says "Seek and ye shall find," it does NOT mean that you should seek blindly and desperately for
something you wouldn't recognize. Meaningful seeking is consciously undertaken, consciously organized, and consciously directed.
B's chief contribution to your joint venture is his insistence that the goal be formulated clearly, and KEPT IN MIND.
T 4 F 10. You, Helen, are not good at doing this. You still search for many gods simultaneously, and this goal confusion, given a
strong will, MUST produce chaotic behavior. B's behavior is not chaotic, because he is not so much goal-divided as not
goal-ORIENTED. Where Helen has overinvested in many goals, B has underinvested in ALL goals. He has the advantage of
POTENTIALLY greater freedom from distractibility, but he does not care enough to use it. Helen has the advantage of great effort,
but she keeps losing sight of the goal.
T 4 F 11. B has very intelligently suggested that you both should set yourself the goal of really studying for this course. There can
be no doubt of the wisdom of this decision, for any student who wants to pass it. But, knowing your individual weaknesses as
learners and being
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a teacher with some experience, I must remind you that learning and wanting to learn are inseparable.
T 4 F 12. All learners learn best when they believe that what they are trying to learn is of value to them. But values in this world are
hierarchical, and not everything you may WANT to learn has lasting value.
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Indeed, many of the things you want to learn are chosen because their value will not last. The ego thinks it is an advantage not to
commit itself to anything that is eternal, because the eternal MUST come from God.
T 4 F 13. Eternalness is the one function that the ego has tried to develop, but has systematically failed. It may surprise you to learn
that had the ego willed to do so, it COULD have made the eternal, because, as a product of the mind, it IS endowed with the power
of its own creator. But the DECISION to do this, rather than the ABILITY to do it is what the ego cannot tolerate. That is because
the decision, from which the ability would naturally develop, would necessarily involve true perception, a state of clarity which the
ego, fearful of being judged truly, MUST avoid.
T 4 F 14. The results of this dilemma are peculiar, but no more so than the dilemma itself. The ego has reacted characteristically
here as elsewhere, because mental illness, which is ALWAYS a form of ego-involvement, is not a problem of reliability as much as
of validity. The ego compromises with the issue of the eternal, just as it does with all issues that touch on the real question in ANY
way. By compromising in connection with all TANGENTIAL questions, it hopes to hide the REAL question and keep it OUT OF
MIND. Its characteristic "business" with non-essentials is precisely for that purpose.
T 4 F 15. Consider the alchemist's age-old attempts to turn base metal into gold. (This typo was originally "god"). The one question
which the alchemist did not permit himself to ask was "What For?" He COULD not ask this, because it would immediately become
apparent that there was no sense in his efforts, even if he succeeded. The ego has also countenanced some strange compromises with
the idea of the eternal, making odd attempts to relate the concept to the unimportant in an effort to satisfy the mind without
jeopardizing itself. Thus, it has permitted many good minds to devote themselves to perpetual MOTION, but NOT to perpetual
THOUGHTS.
T 4 F 16. Ideational preoccupations with conceptual problems set up to be incapable of solution are another favorite ego device for
impeding the strong-willed from real progress in learning. The problems of squaring the circle, and carrying pi to infinity are good
examples. A more recent ego-attempt is particularly noteworthy. The idea of preserving the body by suspension, thus giving it the
kind of limited immortality
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which the ego can tolerate, is among its more recent appeals to the mind.
T 4 F 17. It is noticeable that in all these diversionary tactics, the ONE question which is NEVER asked by those who pursue them
is "What for?" This is the question which YOU must learn to ask in connection with everything your mind wills to undertake. What
is your purpose? Whatever it is, you cannot doubt that it will channelize your efforts automatically. When you make a decision of
purpose, then, you HAVE made a decision about future effort, a decision which will remain in effect UNLESS you change the
DECISION.
T 4 F 18. Psychologists are in a good position to realize that the ego is capable of making and accepting as real some very distorted
associations which are not true. The confusion of sex with aggression, and resulting behavior which is the same for BOTH, is a
good example. This is understandable to the psychologist, and does not produce surprise. The lack of surprise, however, is NOT a
sign of understanding. It is a symptom of the psychologist's ability to accept as reasonable a compromise which is clearly senseless,
to attribute it to the mental illness of the patient rather than his own, and to limit his questions about both the patient AND himself
to the trivial.
T 4 F 19. These relatively minor confusions of the ego are not among its more profound misassociations, although they DO reflect
them. Your own egos have been blocking the more important questions which your minds should ask. You do NOT understand a
patient while you yourselves are willing to limit the questions you raise about HIS mind, because you are also accepting these limits
for YOURS. This makes you unable to heal him AND yourselves. Be ALWAYS unwilling to adapt to ANY situation in which
miracle-mindedness is unthinkable. That state in ITSELF is enough to demonstrate that perception is wrong.
T 4 G. The Constant State (*N 487 6:51)
T 4 G 1. It cannot be emphasized too often that CORRECTING perception is merely a temporary expedient. It is necessary ONLY
because Misperception is a BLOCK to knowledge, while ACCURATE perception is a stepping-stone toward it. The whole
value of right perception lies in the inevitable judgment which it necessarily entails that it is UNNECESSARY. This removes the
block entirely.
T 4 G 2. You may ask how this is possible as long as you appear to be living in this world. And since this is a sensible question, it
has a sensible answer. But you
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must be careful that you really understand the question. What IS the you who are living in this world? Bill will probably have more
trouble with this than you, but if he will try not to close his mind, he may decide that we are NOT engaging in denial after all.
T 4 G 3. To help him, it might be wise to review a number of the concepts with which he does not appear to have trouble, except at
times. He liked the idea of invisibility, and was particularly open to the concept of different orders of reality. He also found the
notion of varying densities of energy appealing. While he may yet agree that these are merely teaching aids, this is a good time to
employ them.
T 4 G 4. Immortality is a constant state. It is as true now as it ever was or will be, because it implies NO CHANGE AT ALL. It is
not a continuum, and it is NOT understood by comparing it with any opposite. Knowledge NEVER involves comparisons. That is
its essential difference from everything else the mind can grasp.
T 4 G 5. "A little knowledge" is not dangerous except to the ego. Vaguely the ego senses threat, and, being unable to realize that "a
little knowledge" is a meaningless phrase because "all" and "a little" in this context are the same, decides that since "all" is
impossible, the fear does not lie in this. "A little," however, is a scarcity concept, and this the ego understands well. Regarding "all"
as impossible, "a little" is perceived as the real threat.
T 4 G 6. The essential thing to remember always is that the ego DOES NOT RECOGNIZE the real source of its perceived threat.
And if YOU associate yourself WITH the ego, YOU do not perceive the whole situation as it really is. Only your allegiance to it
gives the ego ANY power over you. We have spoken of the ego as if it were a separate thing, acting on its own. This was necessary
to persuade you that you cannot dismiss it lightly, and MUST realize how much of your thinking is ego-directed. But we cannot
safely leave it at that, or you will regard yourselves as necessarily conflicted as long as you are here, or more properly, BELIEVE
that you are here.
T 4 G 7. The ego is nothing more than a PART of your belief about yourselves. Your other life has continued without interruption,
and has been and always will be totally unaffected by your attempts to dissociate. The ratio of repression and
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dissociation of truth varies with the individual ego-illusion (tell Bill that phrase is VERY good), but dissociation is always involved,
or you would not believe that you ARE here.
T 4 G 8. When I told Bill to concentrate on the phrase "here I am, Lord," I did not mean "in this world" by "here." I wanted him to
think of himself as a separate consciousness, capable of direct communication with the Creator of that consciousness. He, too,
MUST begin to think of himself as a very powerful receiving and sending channel, a description I once gave you symbolically.
Remember that HE understood it before you did, because you are more dissociative and less repressed.
T 4 G 9. Your great debt to each other is something you should never forget. It is exactly the same debt that you owe to me.
Whenever you react egotistically toward each other, you are throwing away the graciousness of your indebtedness and the holy
perception it would produce. The reason why the term "holy" can be used here is that, as you learn how much you ARE indebted to
the whole Sonship which includes me, you come as close to knowledge as perception ever can. This gap is so small knowledge can
easily flow across it and obliterate it forever.
T 4 G 10. You have very little trust in me as yet, but it will increase as you turn more and more often to me instead of to your egos
for guidance. The results will convince you increasingly that your choice in turning to me is the only sane one you can make. No-one
who has learned from experience that one choice brings peace and joy while another brings chaos and disaster needs much
conditioning. The ego cannot withstand the conditioning process, because the process itself DEMONSTRATES that there is another
way.
T 4 G 11. The classic conditioning by rewards model has always been most effective. Howard Hunt made a very good point in this
connection, even though he did not understand that the real reason why conditioning through pain is not the most efficient method is
because pain itself is an ego-illusion, and can never induce more than a temporary effect.
T 4 G 12. The rewards of God are immediately recognized as eternal. Since this recognition is made by YOU and NOT by your ego,
the recognition ITSELF establishes that you and your ego CANNOT be identical. You may believe that you have already accepted
the difference, but you are by no means convinced as yet. The very fact that you are preoccupied with the idea of escaping FROM
the ego shows this.
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T 4 G 13. You cannot escape from the ego by humbling it, or controlling it, or punishing it. The ego and the Soul DO NOT KNOW
each other. The separated mind cannot maintain the separation EXCEPT by dissociating. Having done this, it utilizes repression
against all truly natural impulses, not because the EGO is a separate thing, but because you want to believe that YOU are. The ego is
a device for maintaining this belief, but it is still only YOUR willingness to use the device that enables it to endure.
T 4 G 14. My trust in you is greater than yours in me at the moment, but it will not always be that way. Your mission is very simple.
You have been chosen to live so as to demonstrate that You are NOT an ego. I repeat that I do not choose God's channels wrongly.
The Holy One shares my trust and always approves my Atonement decisions, because my will is never out of accord with His.
T 4 G 15. I have told you several times that I am in charge of the whole Atonement. This is ONLY because I completed my part in it
as a man, and can now complete it through other men. My chosen receiving and sending channels cannot fail, because I will lend
them MY strength as long as theirs is wanting. I will go with you to the Holy One, and through MY perception HE can bridge the
little gap. Your gratitude to each OTHER is the only gift I want. I will bring it to God for you, knowing that to know your brother IS
to know God.
T 4 G 16. A little knowledge is an all-encompassing thing. If you are grateful to each other you are grateful to God for what He
created. Through your gratitude you can come to know each other, and one moment of real recognition makes all men your brothers
because they are all of your Father. Love does not conquer all things, but it DOES set all things right.
T 4 G 17. Because you are all the Kingdom of God, I can lead you back to your own creations, which you do not yet know. God has
kept them very safe in HIS knowing while your attention has wandered. Bill gave you a very important idea when he told you that
what has been dissociated IS STILL THERE. I am grateful to him for that, and I hope he will not decide that it is true only for you.
Even though dissociation is much more apparent in you, and repression is much more evident in him, each of you utilizes both.
T 4 G 18. Wisdom always dictates that a therapist work through WEAKER defenses first. That is why I suggested to Bill that he
persuade you to deal with REPRESSION first.
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We have only just about reached the point where dissociation means much to you, because it is so important to your misbeliefs. Bill
might do well, - and you could help him here, - to concentrate more on HIS dissociative tendencies and not try to deal with
repression yet.
T 4 G 19. I hinted at this when I remarked on his habit of disengaging himself, and when I spoke to him about distantiation. These
are all forms of dissociation, and these weaker forms were always more evident in him than in you. That is because dissociation was
so extreme in your case that you did not have to hide it because you were not aware that it was there. Bill, on the other hand, DOES
dissociate more than he thinks, and that is why he cannot listen. He does not need to go through the same course in repression that
you did, because he will give up his major misdefense AFTER he has rid himself of the lesser ones.
T 4 G 20. Do not disturb yourself about repression, Bill, but DO train yourself to be alert to any tendency to withdraw from your
brothers. Withdrawal is frightening, and you do not recognize all the forms it takes in you. Helen is right that she will experience
things that will cut across all her perceptions because of their stunning knowledge. You were right that this will occur when she
learns to recognize what she ALREADY knows and has dissociated.
T 4 G 21. You, Bill, will learn somewhat differently, because you are afraid of all complete involvements, and believe that they
lessen YOU. You have learned to be so much more clear-sighted about this that you should be ready to oppose it in yourself
RELATIVELY easily. As you come closer to a brother, you DO approach me, and as you withdraw from him I become distant to
you.
T 4 G 22. Your giant step forward was to INSIST on a collaborative venture. This does NOT go against the true spirit of meditation
at all. It is inherent IN it. Meditation is a collaborative venture with GOD. It CANNOT be undertaken successfully by those who
disengage themselves from the Sonship, because they are disengaging themselves from me. God will come to you only as you will
give Him to your brothers. Learn first of them, and you will be ready to hear God as you hear them. That is because the function of
love is One.
T 4 G 23. How can you teach someone the value of something he has thrown away deliberately? He must have thrown it away
because he did NOT value it. You can only show him how
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miserable he is WITHOUT it, and bring it near very slowly, so he can learn how his misery lessens as he approaches it. This
conditions him to associate his misery with its ABSENCE, and to associate the OPPOSITE of misery with its presence. It gradually
becomes desirable, as he changes his mind about its worth.
T 4 G 24. I am conditioning you to associate misery with the ego, and joy with your Soul. You have conditioned yourself the other
way around. But a far greater reward will break through any conditioning, if it is repeatedly offered when the old habit is broken.
You are still free to choose. But can you really WANT the rewards of the ego in the presence of the rewards of God?
T 4 H. Creation and Communication (*N 508 6:72)
T 4 H 1. It should be clear that, while the content of any particular ego-illusion does not matter, it is usually more helpful to correct
it in a specific context. Bill is right that you are too abstract in this matter. Ego-illusions are QUITE specific, although they
frequently change, and although the mind is naturally abstract, it became concrete voluntarily as soon as it splits. However, only
PART of it splits, so only PART of it is concrete.
T 4 H 2. The concrete part is the same part that believes in the ego, because the ego DEPENDS on the specific. It is the part that
believes your existence means you are SEPARATE. Everything the ego perceives is a separate whole, without the relationships that
imply BEING. The ego is thus AGAINST communication, except in so far as it is utilized to ESTABLISH separateness, rather than
to abolish it.
T 4 H 3. The communication system of the ego is based on its own thought-system, as is everything else it dictates. Its
communication is controlled by its need to protect itself, and it will disrupt communication when it experiences threat. While this is
always so, individual egos perceive different kinds of threat, which are quite specific in their own judgment. For example, although
all forms of perceived demands may be classified (or judged) by the ego as coercive communication which must be disrupted, the
response of breaking communication will nevertheless be to a SPECIFIC PERSON or persons.
T 4 H 4. The specificity of the ego's thinking, then, results in a spurious kind of generalization, which is really not abstract at all. It
will respond in certain specific ways to all stimuli which it perceives as related. In contrast, the Soul reacts in the same way to
everything it know is true, and does not respond at all to anything else. Nor does it make any attempt to ESTABLISH what is true. It
knows
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that what is true is everything that God created. It is in complete and direct communication with every aspect of Creation, because it
is in complete and direct communication with its Creator.
T 4 H 5. This communication IS the will of God. Creation and communication are synonymous. God created every mind by
communicating His Mind to it, thus establishing it forever as a channel for the reception of His Mind and Will. Since only beings of
a like order can truly communicate. His Creations naturally communicate with Him and communicate like Him. This
communication is perfectly abstract, in that its quality is universal in application, and not subject to ANY judgment, ANY
exception, or ANY alteration.
T 4 H 6. God made you BY this and FOR this. The mind can distort its functions, but it cannot endow itself with those it was not
given. That is why the mind cannot totally lose the ability to communicate, even though it may refuse to utilize it on behalf of being.
Existence as well as being rests on communication.
T 4 H 7. Existence is SPECIFIC in how, what, and with whom communication is worth undertaking. Being is completely without
these distinctions. It is a state in which the mind IS in communication with everything that is real, including its own Soul. To
whatever extent you permit this state to be curtailed, you are limiting your sense of your OWN reality, which becomes total only by
recognizing ALL reality in the glorious context of its real relationship to YOU. This IS your reality. Do not desecrate it or recoil
from it. It is your real home, your real temple, and your real self.
T 4 H 8. God, who encompasses ALL Being, nevertheless created separate beings who have everything individually, but who want
to share it to increase their joy. Nothing that is real can be increased EXCEPT by sharing it. That is why God Himself created you.
Divine Abstraction takes joy in application, and that is what creation MEANS. How, what, and to whom are irrelevant, because real
creation gives everything since it can only create like itself. Remember that in being, there is no difference between having and
being, as there is in existence. In the state of being, the mind gives everything always.
T 4 H 9. The Bible repeatedly states that you should praise God. This hardly means that you should tell Him how wonderful He is.
He has no ego with which to accept
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thanks, and no perceptions with which to judge your offerings. But unless you take your part in the creation, His joy is not complete
because YOURS is incomplete. And THIS He does know. He knows it in his own Being and its experience of His Sons’ experience.
The constant GOING OUT of His love is blocked when His Channels are closed, and He IS lonely when the minds He created do
not communicate fully with Him.
T 4 H 10. God HAS kept your kingdom for you, but He cannot share His joy with you until you know it with your whole mind.
Even revelation is not enough, because it is communication FROM God. But it is not enough until it is shared. God does not need
revelation returned to Him, which would clearly be impossible, but He DOES want revelation brought to others. This cannot be
done with the actual revelation, because its content cannot be expressed, and it is intensely personal to the mind which receives it.
But it can still be returned BY that mind through its attitudes to other minds which the knowledge from the revelation brings.
T 4 H 11. God is praised whenever any mind learns to be wholly helpful. This is impossible without being wholly harmless, because
the two beliefs cannot coexist. The truly helpful are invulnerable, because they are NOT protecting their egos, so that nothing CAN
hurt them. Their helpfullness IS their praise of God, and He will return their praise of Him, because they are like Him and can rejoice
together. God goes out to them and through them, and there is great joy throughout the Kingdom. Every mind that is changed adds
to this joy with its own individual willingness to share in it.
T 4 H 12. The truly helpful are God's miracle-workers, whom I direct until we are all united in the joy of the kingdom. I will direct
you to wherever you can be truly helpful, and to whoever can follow my guidance through you. I arranged for Bill to attend the
rehabilitation meetings for very good reasons, and I want him to know them so we can share our goal there.
T 4 I. True Rehabilitation (*N 514 6:77)
T 4 I 1. Properly speaking, every mind which is split needs rehabilitation. The medical orientation emphasizes the body, and the
vocational orientation stresses the ego. The team approach generally leads more to confusion than anything else, because it is too
often misused as an expedient for sharing the ego's dominion with other ego's rather than as a real experiment in cooperation of
minds.
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T 4 I 2. The reason why Bill needs this experience is because he needs rehabilitating himself. How often have I answered "help
him" when you asked me to help you? He, too, has asked for help, and he has been helped whenever he was truly helpful to you. He
has also gained to whatever extent he could give. He will help YOU more truly by going, if he can remember all the time he is there
that his ONLY reason for being there is to REPRESENT ME.
T 4 I 3. Rehabilitation, as a movement, has been an improvement over overt neglect, but it is often little more than a painful attempt
on the part of the halt to lead the blind. Bill, you will see this at every meeting. But this is not why you were chosen to go. You
have a fear of broken bodies, because your ego cannot tolerate them. You ego cannot tolerate ego-weakness, either, without
ambivalence, because it is afraid of its own weakness and the weakness of its chosen home.
T 4 I 4. That is really why you recoil from the demands of the dependent, and from the sight of a broken body. Your ego is
threatened, and blocks your natural impulse to help, placing you under the strain of divided will. You withdraw to allow your ego to
recover, and to regain enough strength to be helpful again on a basis limited enough NOT to threaten your ego, but also too limited
to give YOU joy.
T 4 I 5. Those with broken bodies are often looked down on by the ego, because of its belief that nothing but a perfect body is
worthy as its OWN temple. A mind that recoils from a hurt body is in great need of rehabilitation itself. A damaged brain is also
hardly a danger. ALL symptoms of hurt need true helpfullness, and whenever they are met with this, the mind that so meets them
heals ITSELF.
T 4 I 6. Rehabilitation is an attitude of praising God as He Himself knows praise. He offers praise to you, and you must offer it to
others. The real limitations on clinical psychology, as it is evaluated by its followers at present, are not reflected by the attitudes of
psychiatrists, or medical boards, or hospital administrators, even though most of them are sadly in need of rehabilitation themselves.
T 4 I 7. The real handicaps of the clinicians lie in their attitudes to those whom their ego perceive as weakened and damaged. By
these evaluations, they have
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weakened and damaged their own helpfullness, and have thus set their own rehabilitation back. Rehabilitation is NOT concerned
with the ego's fight for control, nor the ego's need to avoid and withdraw.
T 4 I 8. Bill, you can do much on behalf of your own rehabilitation AND Helen's, and much more universally as well, if you think
of the Princeton meetings in this way:
I am here ONLY to be truly helpful.
I am here to represent Christ, who sent me.
I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do,
because the one who sent me will direct me.
I am content to be wherever He wished, knowing he goes
there with me.
I will be healed as I let him teach me to heal.
CHAPTER 5 – HEALING AND WHOLENESS
T 5 A. Introduction (*N 518 6:82)
T 5 A 1. To heal is to make happy. I told you once to think how many opportunities you have to gladden yourselves, and how many
you have refused. This is exactly the same as telling you that you have refused to heal yourselves. The light that belongs in you is
the light of joy. Radiance is not associated with sorrow. Depression is often contagious, but although it may affect those who come
in contact with it, they do not yield to its influence wholeheartedly. But joy calls forth an integrated willingness to share in it, and thus
promotes the mind's natural impulse to RESPOND AS ONE.
T 5 A 2. Those who attempt to heal without being wholly joyous themselves call forth different kinds of responses at the same time,
and thus deprive others of the joy of responding wholeheartedly. To be wholehearted, you MUST be happy. If fear and love cannot
coexist, and if it is impossible to be wholly fearful and remain alive, then the only possible whole state IS that of love. There is no
difference between love and joy. Therefore, the only possible whole state IS the wholly joyous.
T 5 A 3. To heal, or to make joyous, is therefore the same as to integrate and MAKE ONE. That is why it makes no difference
TO what part or BY what part of the Sonship the healing is done. Every part benefits, and benefits equally. YOU are being blessed
by every beneficent thought of any of your brothers anywhere. You should want to bless them in return, out of gratitude.
T 5 A 4. You do not have to know them individually, or they you. The light of joy
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is so strong that it radiates throughout the Sonship and returns thanks to the Father for radiating HIS joy upon it. Only God's own
holy children are worthy to be channels of his beautiful joy, because only they are beautiful enough to hold it by sharing it. It is
impossible for a Child of God to love his neighbor EXCEPT as himself. That is why the healer's prayer is, "let me know this
brother as I know myself."
T 5 B. Healing as Joining (*N 520 6:84)
T 5 B 1. Healing is an act of thought by which two minds perceive their oneness, and become glad. This gladness calls to every part
of the Sonship to rejoice with them, and let God Himself go out into them and through them. Only the healed mind can experience
revelation with lasting effect, because revelation is an experience of pure joy. If you do not will to be wholly joyous, your mind
cannot have what it does not will to be.
T 5 B 2. Remember that the Soul knows no difference between being and having. The higher mind thinks according to the laws
which the Soul obeys, and therefore honors only the laws of God. To Him, getting is meaningless, and giving is all. Having
everything, the Soul HOLDS everything by GIVING it, thus creating as the Father created.
T 5 B 3. If you think about it, you will see that, while this kind of thinking is totally alien to having THINGS, even to the lower
mind it is quite comprehensible in connection with IDEAS. If you share a physical possession, you DO divide its ownership. But if
you share an IDEA, you do NOT lessen it. ALL of it is still yours, although all of it has been given away. Further, if the person to
whom you give it accepts it as HIS, he reinforces it in YOUR mind, and thus INCREASES it.
T 5 B 4. If you can accept the concept that the world IS one of ideas, the whole belief in the false association which the ego has
made between giving and LOSING is gone. Let us start our process of re-awakening with just a few simple concepts:
Thoughts INCREASE by being given away.
The more who BELIEVE in them, the STRONGER they become.
EVERYTHING is an idea.
How, then, is it possible that giving and losing can be meaningfully associated?
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T 5 B 5. This is the invitation to the Holy Spirit. I told you that I could reach up and bring the Holy Spirit down to you. But I can
bring Him to you only at your own invitation. The Holy Spirit is nothing more than your own right mind. He was also mine. The
Bible says, "May the mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus," and uses this as a BLESSING. It is the blessing of miracle-
mindedness. It asks that you may think as I thought, joining with me in Christ-thinking.
T 5 B 6. The Holy Spirit is the only part of the Holy Trinity which is symbolic. He is referred to in the Bible as the Healer, the
Comforter, and the Guide. He is also described as something separate, apart from the Father and from the Son. I myself said, "and if
I go I will send you ANOTHER comforter, and he will abide with you."
T 5 B 7. The Holy Spirit is a difficult concept to grasp, precisely because it IS symbolic, and therefore open to many different
interpretations. As a man and as one of God's creations, my right thinking, which came from the Universal Inspiration which IS the
Holy Spirit, taught me first and foremost that this Inspiration is for ALL. I could not have it myself without knowing that.
T 5 B 8. The word "know" is proper here, because the Holy Inspiration is so close to knowledge that it calls forth, or better, allows it
to come. We have spoken before of the higher or true perception, which is so close to truth that God Himself can flow across the
little gap. Knowledge is always ready to flow everywhere, but it cannot oppose. Therefore you can obstruct it, although you can
never lose it.
T 5 B 9. The Holy Spirit is the Christ mind that senses the knowledge that lies beyond perception. It came into being with the
separation as a protection, and inspired the beginning of the Atonement at the same time. Before that, there was no need for healing
and no-one was comfortless.
T 5 C. The Mind of the Atonement (*N 525 6:89)
T 5 C 1. God honored even the miscreations of His Children because they had made them. But he also blessed them with a way of
thinking about them that could raise their perceptions until they became so lofty that they could reach almost back to Him.
T 5 C 2. The Holy Spirit is the mind of the Atonement. It represents a state of mind that comes close enough to one-mindedness that
transfer is at last possible. As you well know, transfer depends on common elements in the old learning and the new situation to
which it is transferred.
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Perception is not knowledge, but it can be TRANSFERRED to knowledge, or CROSS OVER into it. It might even be more helpful
here to use the literal meaning "carried over," for the last step is taken by God.
T 5 C 3. The Holy Spirit, the shared Inspiration of all the Sonship, induces a kind of perception in which many elements are like
those in the Kingdom of Heaven Itself.
T 5 C 4. First, its universality is perfectly clear, and no-one who receives it could ever believe for one instant that sharing it involves
anything BUT gain.
T 5 C 5. Second, it is incapable of attack, and is therefore truly open. This means that although it does not engender knowledge, it
does not obstruct it in any way. Third, it is an unequivocal call to love. Every other voice is still.
T 5 C 6. There is a point at which sufficient quantitative changes produce real qualitative differences. The next point requires real
understanding, because it is the point at which the shift occurs.
T 5 C 7. Finally, it points the way beyond the healing which it brings, and leads the mind beyond its own integration into the paths
of creation.
T 5 C 8. Healing is not creating; it is reparation. The Holy Spirit promotes healing by looking beyond it, to what the children of God
were before healing was needed, and will be when they have BEEN healed. This alteration of the time sequence should be quite
familiar, because it is very similar to the shift in time perception which the miracle introduces.
T 5 C 9. The Holy Spirit is the MOTIVATION for miracle-mindedness. It is the will to HEAL the separation by letting it go. It is IN
you because God placed it in your mind, and although you can keep it asleep you cannot obliterate it. God Himself keeps it alive by
transmitting it from His Mind to yours as long as there is time. It is partly His will and partly yours. The miracle itself is just this
fusion or union of will between Father and Son.
T 5 C 10. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Joy. It is the call to return, with which God blessed the minds of the separated Sons. This
the vocation of the mind. It had no calling until the separation, because before it had only being, and would not have understood the
call to right thinking. The Holy
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Spirit was God's answer to the separation, the means by which the Atonement could repair until the whole mind returned to
creating. The Atonement and the separation began at the same time. When man made the ego, God placed in him the call of joy.
This call is so strong that the ego always dissolves at its sound.
T 5 C 11. That is why you can choose to listen to two voices within you. One you made yourself, and that one is not of God. But the
other is given you by God, Who asks you only to listen to it. The Holy Spirit IS in you in a very literal sense. It is the voice that calls
you back to where you were before and will be again.
T 5 D. The Voice for God (*N 529 6:93)
T 5 D 1. It is possible even in this world to hear ONLY that voice and no other. It takes effort and great willingness to learn. It is the
final lesson that I learned, and God's Sons are as equal as learners as they are as Souls. The voice of the Holy Spirit IS the call to
Atonement, or the restoration of the integrity of the mind. When the Atonement is complete and the whole Sonship is healed, there
will be no call to return, but what God creates is eternal. The Holy Spirit will remain with the Sons of God, to bless THEIR
creations and keep them in the light of joy.
T 5 D 2. You ARE the Kingdom of Heaven, but you have let the belief in darkness enter your minds, and so you need a new light.
The Holy Spirit is the radiance that you must let to banish the idea of darkness. His is the glory before which dissociation falls away,
and the Kingdom of Heaven breaks through into its own.
T 5 D 3. Before the separation you did not need guidance. You KNEW as you will know again, but you do not know now. God does
not guide, because He can share only PERFECT KNOWLEDGE. Guidance is EVALUATIVE, because it implies that there is a
RIGHT way and also a WRONG way, one to be chosen and the other avoided. By choosing one, you give up the other. This IS a
conflict state. It MEANS that knowledge has been lost, because knowledge is SURE.
T 5 D 4. God is not in you; YOU are part of HIM. When you willed to leave Him, He gave you a voice to speak FOR Him, because
He could no longer share His
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knowledge with you without hindrance. Direct communication was broken, because you had made another voice through another
will. The Holy Spirit calls you both to remember and forget. You have chosen to be in a state of opposition, in which opposites are
possible. As a result, there ARE choices which you must make. In the holy state, the will is free in the sense that its creative power
is unlimited, but choice itself is meaningless.
T 5 D 5. Freedom to choose is the same POWER as freedom to create, but its APPLICATION is different. Choosing MEANS
divided will. The Holy Spirit is one way of choosing. This way is in you BECAUSE there is also another way. God did not leave
His Children comfortless, even though they left Him. The voice they put in their minds was NOT the voice of His Will, for which
the Holy Spirit speaks. The call to return is stronger than the call to depart, but it speaks in a different way.
T 5 D 6. The voice of the Holy Spirit does not command, because it is incapable of arrogance. It does not demand, because it does
not seek control. It does not overcome, because it does not attack. It merely REMINDS. It is compelling only because of what it
reminds you OF. It brings to your mind the OTHER way, remaining quiet even in the midst of the turmoil you have made for
yourselves. The voice for God is always quiet, because it speaks of peace. Yet peace is stronger than war, because it heals. War is
DIVISION, not increase. No-one gains from strife.
T 5 D 7. "What profiteth a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own Soul?" This means that if he listens to the wrong voice,
he has LOST SIGHT of his Soul. He CANNOT lose it, but he CAN not know it. It is therefore LOST TO HIM, until he chooses
right. The Holy Spirit is your guide in choosing. He is the part of your mind which ALWAYS speaks for the right choice, because
he speaks for God. He is your remaining communication with God, which you can interrupt, but cannot destroy.
T 5 D 8. The Holy Spirit is the way in which God's will can be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Both Heaven and Earth are in YOU,
because the call of both are in your wills, and therefore in your minds. The voice for God comes from your own altars to Him. These
altars are not THINGS. They are DEVOTIONS.
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But you have other devotions now. Your divided devotion has given you the two voices, and you must choose at which altar you
will to serve. The call you answer now IS an evaluation, because it is a DECISION. The decision itself is very simple. It is made on
the basis of which call is worth more to you.
T 5 D 9. My mind will always be like yours, because we were created as equals. It was only my DECISION that gave me all power
in Heaven and earth. My only gift to you is to help you make the same decision FOR YOURSELF. The will for this decision is the
will to SHARE it, because the decision itself IS the decision to share. It is MADE BY GIVING, and is therefore the one act of mind
that resembles true creation.
T 5 D 10. You understand the role of models in the learning process, and the importance of the models you value and choose to
follow in determining what you will to learn. I am your model for decision. By deciding for God, I showed you that this decision
CAN be made, and that YOU can make it. I promised you that the mind that made the decision for me is also in YOU, and that you
can let it change you just as it changed me. This mind is unequivocal, because it hears only ONE VOICE, and answers in ONE
WAY.
T 5 D 11. You are the light of the world with me. Rest does not come from sleeping, but from waking. The Holy Spirit is the call to
awake and be glad. The world is very tired, because it is the IDEA of weariness. Our task is the joyous one of waking it to the call
for God. Everyone will answer the call of the Holy Spirit, or the Sonship cannot be as one. What better vocation could there be for
any part of the Kingdom than to restore it to the perfect integration that can make it whole?
T 5 D 12. Hear only this through the Holy Spirit within you, and teach your brothers to listen as I am teaching you. When you are
tempted by the wrong voice, call on me to remind you how to heal by sharing my decision and MAKING IT STRONGER. As we
share this goal, we increase its power to attract the whole Sonship, and to bring it back into the Oneness in which it was created.
T 5 D 13. Remember that "Yoke" means "join together," and "burden" means message. Let us reconsider the biblical statement "my
yoke is easy and my burden light" in this way. Let us join together, for my message is Light.
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I came to your minds because you had grown vaguely aware of the fact that there is another way, or another voice. Having given
this invitation to the Holy Spirit, I could come to provide the model for HOW TO THINK.
T 5 D 14. Psychology has become the study of BEHAVIOR, but no-one denies the basic law that behavior is a response to
MOTIVATION, and motivation is will. I have enjoined you to behave as I behaved, but we must respond to the same mind to do
this. This mind is the Holy Spirit, whose will is for God always. It teaches you how to keep me as the model for your thought, and
behave like me as a result.
T 5 D 15. The power of our joint motivation is beyond belief, but NOT beyond accomplishment. What we can accomplish together
has no limits, because the call for God IS the call to the unlimited. Child of God, my message is for YOU, to hear and give away as
you answer the Holy Spirit within you.
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T 5 E. The Guide to Salvation (*N 548 6:112)
T 5 E 1. The way to LEARN TO KNOW your brother is by perceiving the Holy Spirit in him. We have already said that the Holy
Spirit is the bridge or thought-transfer of perception TO knowledge, so we CAN use the terms as if they were related, because in
HIS mind they are. This relationship MUST be in His mind, because unless it were, the separation between the two ways of thinking
would not be open to healing. He is part of the Holy Trinity, because His Mind is partly YOURS and also PARTLY GOD's. This
needs clarification not in statement, since we have said this before, but in EXPERIENCE.
T 5 E 2. The Holy Spirit is the IDEA of healing. Being thought, the idea GAINS AS IT IS SHARED. Being the call FOR God, it is
also the idea OF God. If you are part of God, it is also the idea of YOURSELF, as well as of all the parts of God. The idea of the
Holy Spirit shares the property of other ideas, because it follows the laws of the universe of which IT is a part. Therefore, it is
strengthened by being given away. It increases in YOU as you give it to your brothers.
T 5 E 3. Since thoughts do not have to be conscious to exist, your brother does not have to be AWARE of the Holy Spirit, either in
himself or in you for this miracle to occur. He may have dissociated the call for God, just as YOU have. But the dissociation is
healed in BOTH of you as you see it in him, and thus acknowledge its BEING. Bill, who has made a number of vital contributions
to our joint venture, made a major one a while ago, which he himself did not appreciate or even understand. If we recognize its
value together, we will be able to use it together, because it is an idea,
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and must therefore be shared to be held.
T 5 E 4. When Bill said that he was determined "NOT to see you that way," he was speaking negatively. If he will state the same
idea POSITIVELY, he will see the POWER of what he said. He had realized that there are two ways of seeing you, and also that
they are diametrically opposed to one another. These two ways must be in HIS mind, because he was referring to HIMSELF as the
perceiver. They must also be in YOURS, because he was perceiving YOU.
T 5 E 5. What he was really saying was that he would NOT look at you through HIS ego, or perceive YOUR ego in you. State
positively, he would see you through the Holy Spirit in HIS mind, and perceive it in YOURS. What you acknowledge in your
brother, you ARE acknowledging in yourself. What you share you STRENGTHEN. The voice of the Holy Spirit IS weak in you.
That is why you MUST share it, because it must be INCREASED in strength before YOU can hear it. It is impossible to hear it in
yourself while it is so weak in your OWN mind. It is NOT weak in itself; but it IS limited by your unwillingness to hear it.
T 5 E 6. Will itself is an idea, and is therefore strengthened by being shared. You have made the mistake of looking for the Holy
Spirit in YOURSELVES, and that is why your meditations have frightened you. By adopting the ego's viewpoint, you undertook an
ego-alien journey WITH THE EGO AS GUIDE. This was BOUND to produce fear. Bill's better idea needs to be strengthened in
BOTH of you. Since it was HIS, HE can increase it by giving it to you.
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T 5 E 7. Delay is of the ego, because time is ITS concept. Delay is obviously a TIME idea. Both time AND delay are meaningless in
eternity. We have said before that the Holy Spirit is God's answer to the ego. Everything of which the Holy Spirit reminds you is in
direct opposition to the ego's notions, because true and false perceptions are THEMSELVES opposed. The Holy Spirit has the task
of UNDOING what the ego has made. It must undo it in the same realm of discourse in which the ego itself operates, or the mind
would be unable to understand the change. We have repeatedly emphasized the fact that one level of the mind is not understandable
to another. So it is with the ego and the soul, and with time and eternity.
T 5 E 8. Eternity is an idea of God, so the soul understands it perfectly. Time is a belief of the ego, so the lower mind, which IS the
ego's domain, accepts it without question. The only aspect of time which is really eternal is NOW. That is what we REALLY mean
when we say that now is the only time. The literal nature of this statement does not mean anything to the ego. It interprets it, at best,
to mean "don't worry about the future." This is NOT what it really means at all.
T 5 E 9. The Holy Spirit is the mediator between the interpretations of the ego and the knowledge of the Soul. Its ability to deal with
symbols enables it to work AGAINST the ego's beliefs in its own language. Its equal ability to look BEYOND symbols into
eternity also enables it to understand the laws of God, for which it speaks.
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T 5 E 10. It can thus perform the function of RE-INTERPRETING what the ego makes, not by destruction, but by understanding.
Understanding is light, and light leads to knowledge. The Holy Spirit is IN light, because it is IN YOU who ARE light. But you
yourselves do not know this. It is therefore the task of the Holy Spirit to re-interpret you on behalf of God.
T 5 E 11. You cannot understand yourselves alone. This is because you have no meaning apart from your rightful place in the
Sonship, and the rightful place of the Sonship in God. This is your life, your eternity, and YOURSELF. It is of this that the Holy
Spirit reminds you. It is this that the Holy Spirit SEES. This vision invariably frightens the ego, because it is so calm. Peace is the
ego's greatest enemy, because according to ITS interpretation of reality, war is the guarantee of its survival. The ego becomes
strong in strife because if you believe there is strife, you will react viciously because the idea of danger has entered your mind. This
idea itself IS an appeal to the ego.
T 5 E 12. The Holy Spirit is as vigilant as the ego to the call of danger, opposing it with ITS strength just as the ego WELCOMES it
with all its might. The Holy Spirit counters this welcome by welcoming peace. Peace and eternity are as closely related as are time
and war. Perception as well as knowledge derive meaning from RELATIONSHIPS. Those which you accept are the foundations of
your beliefs.
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T 5 E 13. The Separation is merely another term for a split mind. It was not an act, but a thought. Therefore, the idea of Separation
can be given away, just as the idea of unity can, and either way, it will be STRENGTHENED IN THE MIND OF THE GIVER. The
ego is the symbol of the Separation, just as the Holy Spirit is the symbol of peace. What you perceive in others you are
STRENGTHENING IN YOUR SELF. You let your mind misperceive, but the Holy Spirit lets your mind re-interpret its own
misperceptions. The Holy Spirit is the perfect teacher. It uses only what your minds ALREADY understand, to teach you that you
do not understand it.
T 5 E 14. The Holy Spirit can deal with an unwilling learner without going counter to his will, because part of his will IS still for
God. Despite the ego's attempts to conceal this part, it is still much stronger than the ego, even though the ego does not recognize it.
The Holy Spirit recognizes it perfectly, because it is its own dwelling place, or the place in the mind where it is at home. YOU are at
home there, too, because it is a place of peace, and peace is of God.
T 5 E 15. You who are part of God are not at home EXCEPT in His peace. If peace is eternal, you are at home only in eternity. The
ego made the world as IT perceives it, but the Holy Spirit, the RE-interpreter of what the ego made, sees it only as a teaching
device for bringing you home. The Holy Spirit must perceive time and re-interpret into the timeless. The mind must be led into
eternity THROUGH time, because having made time it is capable of perceiving its opposite.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(246) C 73
T 5 E 16. The Holy Spirit must work through opposites, because it must work with and for a mind that IS in opposition. Correct and
learn, and be open to learning. You have NOT made truth, but truth can still set you free. Look as the Holy Spirit looks, and
understand as He understands. His understanding looks back to God, in remembrance of Me. He is in Holy Communion always, and
He is part of YOU. He is your guide to salvation, because he holds the remembrance of things past and to come. He holds this
gladness gently in your minds, asking only that you INCREASE it in His name by sharing it to increase His joy in YOU.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(247) C 74
T 5 F. Therapy and Teaching (*N 558 6:122)
T 5 F 1. You must have noticed how often I have used your own ideas to help YOU. B. is right is saying that you have learned to be
a loving, wise, and very understanding therapist, except for yourself. That exception has given you more than perception for others
because of what you saw in them, but less than knowledge of your real relationships TO them because you did NOT make them part
OF you. Understanding IS beyond perception, because it introduces meaning. But it is below knowledge, even though it can grow
toward it. It is possible, with great effort, to understand someone else and to be helpful to him, but the effort is misdirected.
The misdirection is quite apparent. It is directed AWAY from you.
T 5 F 2. This does NOT mean that it is lost to you, but it DOES mean that you are not aware of it. I have saved all of your
kindnesses and every loving thought you have had, and I assure you, you have had many. I have purified them of errors which hid
their light, and have kept them for you in their own perfect radiance. They are beyond destruction and beyond guilt. They came
from the Holy Spirit within YOU, and we know that what God creates is eternal.
T 5 F 3. Bill once spoke of the Kingdom in this way, because he yearns for what he has repressed. You are much more afraid of it,
because dissociation is more fearful. B's better contact has allowed him the strength to retain the fear in awareness, and to resort to
displacement, which he is learning to overcome with YOUR help. That is because you do not perceive HIM as dissociated, and can
help him with his repression,
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(248) C 75
which does not frighten you. He, on the other hand, has no difficulty in seeing YOU dissociate, and does not have to deal with
repression in you, which WOULD produce fear in him.
T 5 F 4. Joining in Atonement, which I have repeatedly asked you to do, is ALWAYS a way OUT of fear. This does not mean that
you can safely fail to acknowledge anything that is true, but the Holy Spirit will not fail to help you re-interpret EVERYTHING that
you perceive as fearful, and teach you ONLY what is loving is TRUE. It is beyond your ability to destroy, but entirely within your
grasp. It BELONGS to you because YOU created it. It is yours because it is part of you, just as you are part of God, because He
created you.
T 5 F 5. The Atonement is the GUARANTEE of the safety of the Kingdom. Nothing good is lost, because it comes from the Holy
Spirit, the voice for Creation. Nothing that is not good was ever created, and therefore CANNOT be protected. What the ego makes
it KEEPS TO ITSELF, and so it is without strength. Its unshared existence does not die. It was merely never born. Real birth is not a
beginning; it is a CONTINUING. Everything that CAN continue has already BEEN born. But it can INCREASE as you are willing
to return the part of your mind that needs healing to the higher part, and thus render your creating (creation) undivided.
T 5 F 6. You yourself always told your patients that the real difference between neurotic and ‘healthy’ guilt feelings was that
neurotic guilt feelings DO NOT HELP ANYONE. This distinction was very wise, though incomplete. Let us make the distinction a
little sharper now.
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Neurotic guilt feelings are a device of the ego for "atoning" without sharing, and for asking for pardon without change. The ego
NEVER calls for real atonement, and cannot tolerate real forgiveness, which IS change.
T 5 F 7. Your concept of "healthy guilt feelings" has great merit, but without the concept of the Atonement it lacked the healing
potential it held. YOU make the distinction in terms of feelings which led to a decision not to repeat the error, which is only PART
of healing. Your concept therefore lacked the idea of UNDOING it. What you were really advocating, then, was adopting a policy
of sharing without a real FOUNDATION.
T 5 F 8. I have come to give you the foundation, so your own thoughts can make you really free. You have carried the burden of the
ideas you did NOT share, and which were therefore too weak to increase, but you did NOT recognize how to UNDO their existence
because you HAD made them. You CANNOT cancel out your past errors alone. They will NOT disappear from your mind without
remedy. The remedy is NOT of your making, any more than YOU are.
T 5 F 9. The Atonement cannot be understood except as a PURE ACT OF SHARING. That is what is meant when we said that it is
possible even in this world to listen to ONE voice. If you are part of God, and the Sonship is one, you CANNOT be limited to the
self the ego sees. Every loving thought held in ANY part (of the Sonship) belongs to every part.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(250) C 77
It is shared BECAUSE it is loving. Sharing is God's way of creating, and also YOURS. Your ego can keep you in exile FROM the
Kingdom but in the Kingdom itself it has no power.
T 5 F 10. You have become willing to receive my messages as I give them, without interference by the ego, so we can clarify an
earlier point which was mentioned before. We said that you will one day teach as much as you learn, and that will keep you in
balance. The time is now, because you have let it be now. You cannot learn EXCEPT by teaching. I heard one voice because I had
learned that learning is attained BY teaching. I understood that I COULD NOT ATONE FOR MYSELF ALONE.
T 5 F 11. Listening to one voice MEANS the will to share the voice to hear it yourself. The mind that was in me is still irresistibly
drawn to every mind created by God, because God's wholeness IS the wholeness of his Son. Turning the other cheek does NOT
mean that you should submit to violence without protest. It means that you cannot be hurt, and do not want to show your brother
anything except your wholeness. Show him that he CANNOT hurt you, and hold nothing against him, or you hold it against
yourself.
T 5 F 12. Teaching is done in many ways, by formal means, by guidance, and above all BY EXAMPLE. If you will to learn, you
MUST will to teach. Teaching is therapy because it means the sharing of ideas, and the awareness that to share them is to strengthen
them. The union of the Sonship IS its protection.
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The ego cannot prevail against the Kingdom BECAUSE it is united, and the ego fades away and is undone in the presence of the
attraction of the parts of the Sonship which hear the call of the Holy Spirit to be as One.
T 5 F 13. I cannot forget my need to teach what I have learned which arose in me BECAUSE I learned it. I call upon you to teach
what you have learned, because by so doing YOU can depend on it. Make it dependable in my name, because my name is the name
of God's Son. What I learned I give you freely, and the mind which was in me rejoices as YOU will to hear it. The Holy Spirit
atones in all of us by UNDOING, and thus lifts the burden you have placed in your mind. By following Him, He leads you back to
God where you belong. And how can you find this way except by taking your brother with you?
T 5 F 14. My part in the Atonement is not complete until YOU join it, and give it away. As you teach, so shall you learn. I will
never leave you or forsake you, because to forsake you would be to forsake myself and God who created me. You will forsake
yourselves and your God if you forsake any of YOUR brothers. You are more than your brother's keeper. In fact, you do not
WANT to keep him. You must learn to see him as he is, and KNOW that he belongs to God, as you do. How could you treat your
brother better than by rendering unto God the things which are God's?
T 5 F 15. Ideas do not LEAVE the mind which thought them in order to have separate being. Nor do separate thoughts conflict with
one another in space, because they do not occupy space at all.
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HUMAN ideas can conflict in content, because they occur at different levels, and include opposite thoughts at the SAME level. IT
IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SHARE OPPOSING THOUGHTS. The Holy Spirit does not LET you forsake your brothers. Therefore, you
can really share only the parts of your thoughts which are of Him, which He also keeps for YOU. And of such is the Kingdom of
Heaven. All the rest remains with you until He has re-interpreted them in the light of the Kingdom, making them, too, worthy of
being shared. When they have been sufficiently purified, He lets you give them away. The will to share them IS their purification.
T 5 F 16. The Atonement gives you the power of a healed mind, but the power to create is of God. Therefore, those who have been
forgiven must devote themselves first to healing, because having RECEIVED the idea of healing they MUST give it to hold it. The
full power of creation (creating) cannot be expressed as long as any of God's ideas are withholding it from the Kingdom. The joint
will of ALL the Sonship is the only creator that can create like the Father. That is because only the complete can think completely,
and the thinking of God lacks nothing. Everything YOU think that is not through the Holy Spirit IS lacking.
T 5 F 17. How can you who are so Holy suffer? All your past, except its beauty, is gone, and nothing is left except a blessing. You
can indeed depart in peace, because I have loved you as I loved myself. You go WITH my blessing and FOR my blessing. Hold it
and share it, that it may always be ours. I place the peace of God in your heart, and in your hands, to hold and share. The heart is
pure to hold it, and the hands are strong to give it. We cannot lose. My judgment is as strong as the wisdom of God,
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(253) C 80
in whose Heart and Hands we have our being. His quiet children are His blessed sons. The Thoughts of God are with
you.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(254) C 81
T 5 G. The Two Decisions (*N 569 6:133)
T 5 G 1. Perhaps this will become clearer and more personally meaningful if the ego's use of guilt is clarified. The ego has a
purpose, just as the Holy Spirit has. The ego's purpose is FEAR, because only the fearful can be egotistic. The ego's logic is as
impeccable as that of the Holy Spirit, because your mind has all the means at its disposal to side with Heaven or earth, as it elects.
But let us again remember that both are in you.
T 5 G 2. In Heaven there is no guilt, because the Kingdom is attained through the Atonement, which creates it in you. The word
"create" is appropriate here, because once what YOU have made is undone by the Holy Spirit, the blessed residue IS restored, and
therefore continues in creation. What is truly blessed is incapable of giving rise to guilt, and must give rise to joy. This makes it
invulnerable to the ego, because its peace is unassailable. It is invulnerable to disruption BECAUSE it is whole.
T 5 G 3. Guilt is always disruptive. Anything that engenders fear is divisive, because it obeys the law of division. If the ego is the
symbol of the separation, it is also the symbol of guilt. Guilt is more than merely not of God. It is the symbol of the ATTACK on
God. This is a totally meaningless concept EXCEPT to the ego, but do not underestimate the power of the ego's belief in it. This is
the belief from which ALL guilt really stems.
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T 5 G 4. The ego IS the part of the mind which believes in division. But how can part of God detach itself WITHOUT believing it is
attacking Him? We spoke before of the authority problem as involving the concept of USURPING His power. The ego believes that
this is what YOU did, because it believes it IS you. It follows, then, that if you identify WITH the ego, you MUST perceive yourself
as guilty.
T 5 G 5. Whenever you respond to your ego, you WILL experience guilt, and you WILL fear punishment. The ego is quite literally
a fearful thought. And however ridiculous the idea of attacking God may be to the sane mind, never forget that the ego is NOT
SANE. It REPRESENTS a delusional system, and it speaks FOR it. Listening to the ego's voice MEANS that you believe it is
possible to attack God. You believe that a part of Him has been torn away by YOU.
T 5 G 6. The classic picture of fear of retaliation from without then follows, because the severity of the guilt is so acute that it
MUST be projected. Although Freud was wrong about the basic conflict itself, he was very accurate in describing its effects.
Whatever you accept INTO your mind has reality for you. It is, however, only the ACCEPTANCE which makes it real.
T 5 G 7. As an extreme example of dissociation yourself, you should have little trouble in understanding that it is perfectly possible
not to ACCEPT what IS in your minds.
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If you enthrone the ego in it, the fact that you have accepted it, or allowed it to enter, MAKES IT YOUR REALITY. This is because
the mind as God created it IS capable of creating reality. We said before that you must learn to think WITH God. To think WITH
Him is to think LIKE Him. This engenders joy, not guilt, because it is natural. Guilt is a sure sign that your thinking is Unnatural.
Perverted thinking will ALWAYS be attended with guilt, because it IS the belief in sin.
T 5 G 8. The ego does not perceive sin as a lack of love. It perceives it as a POSITIVE ACT OF ASSAULT. This is an
interpretation which is necessary to its survival, because as soon as YOU regard it as a LACK, you will automatically attempt to
remedy the situation. And you will also succeed. The ego regards this as doom, but YOU must learn to regard it as freedom.
T 5 G 9. The guiltless mind cannot suffer. Being sane, it heals the body because IT has been healed. The sane mind cannot conceive
of illness, because it cannot conceive of attacking anything or anyone. We said before that illness is a form of magic. It might be
better to say it is a form of magical SOLUTION. The ego believes that by punishing ITSELF, it will mitigate the punishment of
God. Yet even in this it is arrogant. It attributes to God a punishing attempt, and then takes over this intent as its OWN prerogative.
It tries to usurp ALL the functions of God as it perceives them, because it recognizes that only total allegiance can be trusted.
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T 5 G 10. The ego cannot OPPOSE the laws of God, any more than YOU can. But it can INTERPRET them according to what it
wants, just as YOU can. That is why the question "what DO you want" must be answered. You ARE answering it every minute and
every second, and each moment of decision is a judgment which is anything BUT ineffectual. Its effects will follow automatically
UNTIL THE DECISION IS CHANGED. This is a redundant statement, because you have NOT learned it. But again, any decision
can be Unmade as well as made.
T 5 G 11. But remember that the ALTERNATIVES are unalterable. The Holy Spirit, like the ego, is a decision. Together they
constitute all the alternatives which your mind CAN accept and obey. The ego and the Holy Spirit are the ONLY choices which are
open to you. God created one, and so you cannot eradicate it. YOU made the other, so you CAN. Only what God creates is
irreversible and unchangeable. What YOU have made can always be changed, because when you do not think LIKE God, you have
not really thought at all. Delusional ideas are NOT thought, but you CAN think that you believe in them.
T 5 G 12. But you are wrong. The function of thought comes FROM God and is IN God. As part of HIS thought, you cannot think
APART from Him. Irrational thought is a thought DISORDER. God Himself orders your thought, because your thought was created
BY Him.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(258) C 85
Guilt feelings are always a sign that you do not know this. They also show that you believe you CAN think apart from God, and
WANT to.
T 5 G 13. Every thought disorder is attended by guilt at its inception, and MAINTAINED by guilt in its continuance. Guilt is
inescapable for those who believe that they order their OWN thought, and must therefore obey its orders. This makes them feel
RESPONSIBLE for their mind ERRORS, without recognizing that by ACCEPTING this responsibility they are really reacting
Irresponsibly. If the sole responsibility of the miracle-worker is to accept the ATONEMENT, and I assure you that it is, then the
responsibility for what is atoned FOR CANNOT be yours.
T 5 G 14. This contradiction cannot BE resolved except by accepting the solution of undoing. You WOULD be responsible for the
effects of all your wrong thinking IF IT COULD NOT BE UNDONE. The purpose of the Atonement is to save the past in
PURIFIED form only. If you accept the remedy FOR a thought-disorder, and a remedy whose efficacy is beyond doubt, how can its
symptoms remain? You have reason to question the validity of symptom cure. But NO-ONE believes that the symptoms can remain
if the underlying CAUSE is removed.
T 5 H. Time and Eternity (*N 577 6:141)
T 5 H 1. The CONTINUING will to remain separated is the only possible reason for continuing guilt feelings. We have said this
before, but we did not emphasize the destructive results of this decision at that time. ANY decision of the mind will affect both
behavior AND experience. And what you will you EXPECT. This is NOT delusional.
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Your mind DOES create your future, and CAN turn it back to full creation at any minute, IF IT ACCEPTS THE ATONEMENT
FIRST. It will also turn back to full creation the instant it has done so. Having given up its thought DISORDER, the proper ordering
of thought becomes quite apparent.
T 5 H 2. God in His knowledge is not waiting. But His Kingdom IS bereft while YOU wait. All the Sons of God are waiting for
your return, just as YOU are waiting for THEIRS. Delay does not matter in eternity, but it IS tragic in time. You have elected to be
in time rather than in eternity, and have therefore changed your belief in your status. But election is both free and alterable. You do
NOT belong in time. Your place is ONLY in eternity, where God Himself placed you forever.
T 5 H 3. Guilt feelings are the PRESERVERS of time. They induce fears of FUTURE retaliation or abandonment, and thus ensure
that the future will remain like the past. This IS the ego's continuity, and gives it a false sense of security through the belief that you
cannot escape from it. But you can and MUST. God offers you the continuity of eternity in exchange. When you will to make this
exchange, you will simultaneously exchange guilt for peace, viciousness for love, and pain for joy.
T 5 H 4. My role is only to unchain your will and make it free. Your egos cannot accept this freedom, and will oppose your free
decision at every possible moment, and in every possible way.
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And as its maker, you KNOW what it can do, because you GAVE IT the ability to do it. The mind does indeed know its power,
because the mind does indeed know God. Remember the Kingdom always, and remember that you who are part of it cannot BE lost.
The mind that was in me IS in you, for God creates with perfect fairness. Let the Holy Spirit remind you always of His fairness, and
let me teach you how to share it with your brothers. How else can the chance to claim it for yourself be given you?
T 5 H 5. What you do not understand is that the two voices speak for different interpretations of the same thing simultaneously, or
almost simultaneously, for the ego always speaks first. Alternate interpretations are unnecessary until the first one has been made,
and speaking itself was unnecessary before the ego was made. The ego speaks in judgment, and the Holy Spirit reverses its
decisions, much as the Supreme Court has the power to reverse the lower courts decision about the laws of this world.
T 5 H 6. The ego's decisions are ALWAYS wrong, because they are based on a complete fallacy which they are made to uphold.
NOTHING it perceives is interpreted correctly. Not only does it cite scripture for its purpose, but it even interprets scripture as a
witness for itself. The Bible is a fearful thing to the ego, because of its prejudiced judgment. Perceiving it as fearful, it interprets it
fearfully. Having made YOU afraid, you do not appeal to the higher court, because you believe its judgment would be AGAINST
you.
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T 5 H 7. We need cite only a few examples to see how the ego's interpretations have mislead you. A favorite ego quotation is "As
ye sow, so shall ye reap." Another is "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord." Still another is "I will visit the sins of the fathers unto
the third and the fourth generation." And also, "The wicked shall perish." There are many others, but if you will let the Holy Spirit
re-interpret these in its own light, they will suffice.
T 5 H 8. "As ye sow, so shall ye reap" merely means that what you believe to be worth cultivating you will cultivate in yourself.
Your judgment of what is worthy DOES make it worthy for you.
T 5 H 9. "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord" is easily explained if you remember that ideas increase only by being shared. This
quotation therefore emphasizes the fact that vengeance CANNOT be shared. Give it therefore to the holy spirit, who will undo it in
you because it does not BELONG in your mind, which is part of God.
T 5 H 10. "I will visit the sins of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation," as interpreted by the ego, is particularly vicious. It
is used, in fact, as an attempt to guarantee its survival beyond itself. Actually, all it really means is that the Holy Spirit in later
generations retains the power to interpret CORRECTLY what former generations have thought, and thus release THEIR thoughts
from the ability to produce fear ANYWHERE in the Sonship.
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T 5 H 11. "The wicked shall perish" is merely a statement of fact, if the word "perish" is properly understood. Every loveless thought
MUST be undone, and even the word "undone" is fearful to the ego, which interprets "I am undone" as "I am destroyed." The ego
will NOT be destroyed, because it is part of YOUR thought. But because it is uncreative, and therefore unsharing, it WILL be
re-interpreted entirely, to release you from fear.
T 5 H 12. The part of your thought which you have given TO the ego will merely return to the Kingdom, where your whole mind
BELONGS. The ego is a form of ARREST, but arrest is merely delay. It does NOT involve the concept of police at all, although the
ego welcomes that interpretation. You CAN delay the completion of the Kingdom , but you CANNOT introduce the concept of
ASSAULT into it.
T 5 H 13. When I said "I am come as a light into the world," I surely came to share this light with you. Remember the symbolic
reference we made before to the ego's dark glass, and remember also that we said "Do not look there." It is still true that "Where
you look to find yourself is up to you." The Higher Court will not condemn you. It will merely dismiss the case against you. There
can BE no case against a child of God, and every witness to guilt in God's creations is bearing false witness to God Himself.
T 5 H 14. Appeal everything you believe gladly to God's own Higher Court, because it speaks for Him, and therefore speaks truly. It
WILL dismiss the case against you, however carefully YOU have built it.
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The case may be fool-proof, but it is NOT God-proof. The voice for God will not hear it at all, because it can only witness truly. Its
verdict will always be "Thine is the Kingdom," because it was given you to remind you of what you ARE.
T 5 H 15. Your patience with each other is your patience with your selves. Is not a child of God worth patience? I have shown you
infinite patience, because my will IS that of our Father, from whom I learned of infinite patience. His voice was in me, as it is in
you, speaking for patience toward the Sonship, in the name of its Creator. What you need to learn now is that only infinite patience
CAN produce immediate effects. This is the way in which time is exchanged for eternity. Infinite patience calls upon infinite Love,
and by producing results NOW renders time unnecessary.
T 5 H 16. To say that time is temporary is merely redundant. We have repeatedly said that time is a learning device which will be
abolished when it is no longer useful. The Holy Spirit, who speaks for God in time, also knows that time is meaningless. He reminds
you of this in every passing moment of time, because it is His special function to return YOU to eternity and remain to bless YOUR
creations there. He is the only blessing you can truly give, because He is so truly blessed. And because He has been given you so
freely by God, you must give Him as you received Him.
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T 5 I. The Eternal Fixation (*N 586 6:150)
T 5 I 1. The concept of "set" is among the better psychological percepts. Actually, it is used quite frequently in the Bible, and also
here, under many different terms. "God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed (or set) on Thee because he trusteth in
Thee."
T 5 I 2. The pronouns here are confusing without explanation, and the attempt to shift "Thee" to "Him" is a misinterpretation. The
statement means that God's peace is set in the Holy Spirit, because it is fixed on God. It is also fixed in you. You, then, ARE fixed
in the peace of God.
T 5 I 3. The concept of "fixation" is a very helpful one, which Freud understood perfectly. Unfortunately, he lost his understanding
because he was afraid, and as you know all too well, fear is incompatible with good judgment. Fear DISTORTS thinking, and
therefore DISorders thought. Freud's system of thought was extremely ingenious, because Freud was extremely ingenious. A mind
MUST endow its thoughts with its own attributes. This is its inherent STRENGTH, even though it may misuse its power.
T 5 I 4. Freud lost much of the potential value of his own thought system because, much like Cayce, he did NOT include himself in
it. This IS a dissociated state, because the thinker cuts himself off from his thoughts. Freud's thought was so conflicted that he could
not have retained his sanity as HE saw it WITHOUT dissociating.
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This is why the many contradictions which are quite apparent in his thinking became increasingly less apparent to Him.
T 5 I 5. A man who knows what fixation REALLY means and does NOT yield to it is terribly afraid. Fixation is the pull of God, on
whom your mind IS fixed because of the Holy Spirit's irrevocable set. "Irrevocable" means "cannot be called back or redirected."
The irrevocable nature of the Holy Spirit's set is the basis for its unequivocal voice. The Holy Spirit NEVER changes its mind.
Clarity of thought CANNOT occur under conditions of vacillation. Unless a mind is fixed in its purpose, it is NOT clear. But clarity
literally means the state of light, and enlightenment IS understanding. It stands UNDER perception because you have denied it as
the REAL foundation of thought. This is the basis for ALL delusional systems.
T 5 I 6. The concept of fixation, as Freud saw it, has a number of real learning advantages. First, it recognizes that man CAN be
fixated at a point in development which does NOT accord with a point in time. This clearly could have been a means toward real
release from the time belief, had Freud pursued it with an open mind. But Freud suffered all his life from refusal to allow eternity to
dawn upon his mind, and enlighten it truly. As a result, he overlooked NOW entirely, and merely saw the continuity of past and
future.
T 5 I 7. Second, although he misinterpreted what the Holy Spirit told him, or better, reminded him of, he was too honest to deny
more than he had to, to keep his fear in tolerable bounds, as he perceived the situation. Therefore, he EMPHASIZED that the point
in development at which the mind is fixated is more real to ITSELF than the external reality with which it DISagrees.
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This again could have been a powerful RELEASE mechanism, had Freud not decided to involve it in a strong defense system
because he perceived it as an attack.
T 5 I 8. Third, although Freud interpreted fixation as irrevocable danger points to which the mind can always regress, the concept can
also be interpreted as an irrevocable call to sanity which the mind cannot LOSE. Freud saw return as a threat to maturity because he
did not understand prodigality. He merely interpreted it as squandering. Actually, "prodigal" also means careful. This confusion
between careful and careless led him to confuse the escape from care with something desirable. In fact, he even went so far as to
equate it quite literally WITH desire.
T 5 I 9. But throughout his thought-system, the "threat" of fixation remained, and could never be completely eliminated by any
living human being anywhere. Essentially, this was the basis of his pessimism. This was personally as well as theoretically the case.
Freud tried every means his very inventive mind could devise to set up a form of therapy which could enable the mind to escape
from fixation forever, even though he KNEW this was impossible. The knowledge plagued his belief in his own thought-system at
every turn, because he was both an honest man and a healer. He was therefore only PARTIALLY insane at the perceptual level, and
was unable to relinquish the hope of release even though he could not cope with it.
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T 5 I 10. The reason for this amount of detail is because YOU are in the same position. You were eternally fixated on God in your
creation, and the pull of this fixation is so strong that you will never overcome it. The reason is perfectly clear. The fixation is on a
level that is so high that it cannot BE surmounted. You are ALWAYS being pulled back to your Creator because you belong in
Him.
T 5 I 11. Do you REALLY believe you can make a voice that can drown out His? Do you really believe that you can devise a
thought-system which can separate you from His? Do you REALLY believe that you can plan for your safety and joy better than He
can? You need be neither careful nor careless. You need merely cast all your cares upon Him because He careth for YOU. You
ARE His care because He loves you. His voice reminds you always that all hope is yours BECAUSE of His care.
T 5 I 12. You CANNOT choose to escape His care, because that is not His will. But you CAN choose to accept His care, and use
the infinite power OF His care for all those He created BY it. There have been many healers who did not heal themselves. They
have not moved mountains by their faith because their faith was not WHOLE. Some of them have healed the sick at times, but they
have not raised the dead. Unless the healer heals HIMSELF, he does NOT believe that there is no order in miracles. He has not
learned that EVERY mind that God created is equally worthy of being healed because GOD CREATED IT WHOLE.
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T 5 I 13. You are asked merely to return to God the mind as HE created it. He asks you only for what He gave, knowing that this
giving will heal YOU. Sanity IS wholeness. And the sanity of your brothers IS yours. Why should you listen to the endless insane
calls which you think are made upon you, when you KNOW the voice of God Himself is in you? God commended His Spirit to you,
and asks that you commend yours to Him. He wills to keep it in perfect peace because you are of one mind and Spirit with Him.
T 5 I 14. Excluding yourself from the Atonement is the ego's last-ditch defense of its own existence. It reflects both the ego's need
to separate, and your willingness to side with its separateness. This willingness means that YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE
HEALED. When I told Bill that there is "just one more thing," he heard me very well. I hope he will hear me as well now. His
intelligent mis-hearing of "river" as "rivet" showed that, even though he wanted release, he was not able to cope with it at the time.
T 5 I 15. But the time IS now. You have not been asked to work out the Plan of Salvation yourselves, because, as I told you before,
the Remedy is NOT of your making. God Himself gave you the perfect correction for everything you have made which is not in
accord with His Holy Will. I have made His Plan perfectly clear and perfectly explicit to you, and have also told you of your part in
His Plan and how urgent it is that you fulfill it.
T 5 I 16. There is time for delay, but there need not be. God weeps at the sacrifice of His children who believe they are lost to Him.
The "one more thing" that Bill must learn is merely that he is NOT the one more. He is both ONE and AT ONE. If he will learn this
NOW, he will be willing in accord with the last judgment, which is really only the Biblical reminder of the inevitability of
self-INCLUSION. This is what "Physician, heal thyself" really means. Bill has frequently observed for HIMSELF that this is hard to do.
He has, however, been perfectly aware of
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JUST what YOU should do about it.
T 5 I 17. You might ask him for me whether he does not think he might be dissociating HIMSELF from his own awareness, since he
is so clear about the remedy for YOU. You might also remind him that to whatever extent he separates himself from you, he is
separating himself from ME. This IS a collaborative venture. Let me therefore return his own ideas to him, so that you can share
them and thus help each other to help me.
T 5 I 18. But let me first remind you of something I told you myself. Whenever you are not wholly joyous, it is because you have
reacted with a lack of love to some Soul which God created. Perceiving this as sin, you become defensive because you EXPECT
ATTACK. The decision to react in that way, however, was YOURS, and can therefore be undone. It CANNOT be undone by
repentance in the usual sense, because this implies guilt. If you allow yourself to feel guilty, you will reinforce the error, rather than
allowing it to be undone FOR you.
T 5 I 19. Decisions CANNOT be difficult. This is obvious if you realize that you must ALREADY have made a decision NOT to be
wholly joyous if that is what you feel. Therefore, the first step in the undoing is to recognize that YOU ACTIVELY DECIDED
WRONGLY, BUT CAN AS ACTIVELY DECIDE OTHERWISE.
T 5 I 20. Be very firm with yourselves in this, and keep yourselves fully aware of the fact that the UNDOING process, which does
NOT come from you, is nevertheless WITHIN you because God placed it there. YOUR part is merely to return your thinking to the
point at which the error was made, and give it over to the Atonement in peace. Say to yourselves the following, as sincerely as you
can, remembering that the Holy Spirit will respond fully to your slightest invitation:
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I must have decided wrongly because I am NOT at peace.
I made the decision myself, but I can also decide otherwise.
I WILL to decide otherwise, because I WANT to be at peace.
I do NOT feel guilty, because the Holy Spirit will undo ALL the consequences of my wrong decision IF I WILL LET HIM.
I WILL to let Him by allowing Him to decide for God for me.
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CHAPTER 6 – ATTACK AND FEAR
T 6 A. Introduction (*N 599 6:163)
T 6 A 1. The relationship of anger to attack is obvious, but the inevitable association of anger and FEAR is not always so clear.
Anger ALWAYS involves PROJECTION OF SEPARATION, which must ultimately be accepted as entirely one's own
responsibility. Anger cannot occur unless you believe that you have BEEN attacked; the attack was JUSTIFIED; and you are in no
way responsible for it. Given these three wholly irrational premises, the equally irrational conclusion that a brother is worthy of
attack rather than of love follows. What can be expected from insane premises EXCEPT an insane conclusion?
T 6 A 2. The way to undo an insane conclusion is always to consider the sanity of the premises on which it rests. You cannot BE
attacked, attack HAS no justification, and you ARE responsible for what you believe. You have been asked to take me as your
model for learning. And we have often said that an extreme example is a particularly helpful learning device. EVERYONE teaches,
and teaches all the time. This is a responsibility which he assumes inevitably, the moment he has accepted any premises at all. And
NO-ONE can organize his life without ANY thought system. Once he has developed a thought system of any kind, he lives by it
and TEACHES it.
T 6 A 3. You have been chosen to teach the Atonement precisely BECAUSE you have been EXTREME examples of allegiance to
your thought systems, and therefore have developed the capacity FOR allegiance. It has indeed been misplaced. Bill had become an
outstanding example of allegiance to apathy, and you have become a startling example of fidelity to variability. But this IS a form of
faith, which you yourselves had grown willing to redirect. You cannot doubt the STRENGTH of your devotion when you consider
how faithfully you observed it. It was quite evident that you had ALREADY developed the ability to follow a better model, if you
could ACCEPT it.
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T 6 B. The Message of the Crucifixion (*N 601 6:165)
T 6 B 1. We have not dwelt upon the crucifixion, because of its fearful connotations. The only emphasis we laid upon it was that it
was NOT a form of punishment. But we know that nothing can be really explained only in negative terms. There is a positive
interpretation of the crucifixion which is wholly devoid of fear, and therefore wholly benign in what it teaches, if it is properly
understood. It is nothing more than an extreme example. Its value, like the value of any teaching device, lies solely in the kind of
learning it facilitates. It can be, and has been, misunderstood. But this is only because the fearful are apt to perceive fearfully.
T 6 B 2. I told you before that you can always call on me to share my decision and thus MAKE IT STRONGER. I also told you that
the crucifixion was the last foolish journey that the Sonship need take, and that it should means RELEASE from fear to anyone who
understands it. While we emphasized the Resurrection only before, the purpose of the crucifixion and how it actually LED to the
Resurrection was not clarified at that time. Nevertheless, it has a definite contribution to make to your own lives, and if you will
consider it WITHOUT fear, it will help you understand your own role as teachers.
T 6 B 3. You have reacted for years AS IF you were being crucified. This is a marked tendency of the separated, who ALWAYS
refuse to consider what they have done to THEMSELVES. Projection means anger, anger fosters assault, and assault promotes fear.
The real meaning of the crucifixion lies in the APPARENT intensity of the assault of some of the Sons of God upon a brother. This,
of course, is impossible, and must be fully understood AS an impossibility. In fact, unless it IS fully understood as ONLY that, I
cannot serve as a real model for learning.
T 6 B 4. Assault can ultimately be made ONLY on the body. There is little doubt that one BODY can assault another, and can even
destroy it. But if destruction ITSELF is impossible, then ANYTHING that is destructible cannot be real. Therefore, its destruction
does NOT justify anger. To the extent
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to which you believe it DOES, you MUST be accepting false premises and TEACHING THEM TO OTHERS. The message which
the crucifixion was intended to teach was that it is not necessary to perceive ANY form of assault in persecution because you cannot
BE persecuted. If you respond with anger, you MUST be equating yourself with the destructible, and are therefore regarding
yourself insanely. I have made it perfectly clear that I am like you, and you are like me. But our fundamental equality can be
demonstrated only through joint decision.
T 6 B 5. You are free to perceive yourselves as persecuted if you choose. But you might remember when you DO choose to react that
way that I WAS persecuted as the world judges, and did NOT share this evaluation for myself. And because I did not share it, I did
NOT strengthen it. I therefore offered a DIFFERENT interpretation of attack, and one which I DO want to share with you. If you
will BELIEVE it, you will help me TEACH it.
T 6 B 6. We have said before, "As you teach so shall you learn." If you react as if you are persecuted, you ARE teaching
persecution. This is not a lesson which the Sons of God should WANT to teach if they are to realize their own salvation. Rather
teach your own perfect immunity, which IS the Truth in you, and KNOW that it cannot be assailed. Do not protect it yourselves, or
you have believed that it IS assailable. You are not asked to BE crucified, because that was part of my own teaching contribution.
You are merely asked to follow my example in the face of much less extreme temptations to misperceive, and NOT to accept them
falsely as justifications for anger.
T 6 B 7. There can BE no justification for the unjustifiable. Do not believe there is, and do not TEACH that there is. Remember
always that what you believe you WILL teach. Believe with me, and we will become equal as teachers. YOUR resurrection is your
re-awakening. I am the model for rebirth, but rebirth itself is merely the dawning on your minds of what is already in them.
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God placed it there Himself, and so it is true forever. I believed in it, and therefore made it forever true for me. Help me to teach it
to our brothers in the name of the Kingdom of God, but first believe that it is true for you, or you will teach amiss.
T 6 B 8. My brothers slept during the so-called "agony in the garden," but I could not be angry with them, because I had learned I
could not BE abandoned. Peter swore he would never deny me, but he did so three times. It should be noted that he did offer to
defend me with the sword, which I naturally refused, not being at all in need of bodily protection. I AM sorry when my brothers do
not share my decision to hear (and be) only one voice, because it weakens them as teachers AND learners. But yet I know that they
cannot really betray themselves or me, and that it is still on them that I MUST build my church.
T 6 B 9. There is no choice in this, because only you can BE the foundation of God's church. A church is where an altar is, and the
presence of the altar is what makes it a church. Any church which does not inspire love has a hidden altar which is not serving the
purpose for which God intended it. I must found His church on you because you, who accept me as a model are literally my
disciples. Disciples are followers, but if the model they follow has chosen to SAVE THEM PAIN IN ALL RESPECTS, they are
probably unwise NOT to follow him.
T 6 B 10. I elected, both for your sake AND mine, to demonstrate that the most outrageous assault, as judged by the ego, did not
matter. As the world judges these things, but NOT as God knows them, I was betrayed, abandoned, beaten, torn, and finally killed.
It was perfectly clear that this was only because of the projection of others onto me, because I had not harmed anyone and had
healed many. We are still equal as learners, even though we need not have equal experiences. The Holy Spirit is glad when you can
learn enough from MINE to be re-awakened by them. That was their only purpose, and that is the only way
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in which I can be perceived as the Way, the Truth, and the Light.
T 6 B 11. When you hear only one voice, you are never called on to sacrifice. On the contrary, by enabling YOURSELVES to hear
the Holy Spirit in others, you can learn from their experiences and gain from them WITHOUT experiencing them. That is because
the Holy Spirit IS one, and anyone who listens is inevitably led to demonstrate His way for ALL. You are not persecuted, nor was I.
You are not asked to repeat my experience, because the Holy Spirit which we SHARE, makes this unnecessary. But to use my
experiences constructively for yourselves, you must still follow my example in how to perceive them.
T 6 B 12. My brothers and yours are constantly engaged in justifying the unjustifiable. My one lesson, which I must teach as I
learned, is that no perception which is out of accord with the judgment of the Holy Spirit CAN be justified. I undertook to show this
was true in a very extreme case, merely because this would serve as a good teaching aid to those whose temptations to give in to
anger and assault would NOT be as extreme.
T 6 B 13. I will, with God Himself, that none of His Sons should suffer. Remember that the Holy Spirit is the communication link
between God the Father and His separated Sons. If you will listen to His voice, you will know that you cannot either hurt or BE
hurt, but that many need your blessing to help them hear this for themselves. When you perceive only this need in them, and do not
respond to any others, you will have learned of me, and be as eager to share your learning as I am. The crucifixion CANNOT be
shared, because it is the symbol of projection. But the Resurrection IS the symbol of sharing, because the re-awakening of every Son
of God is necessary to enable the Sonship to know its wholeness. Only this IS knowledge.
T 6 B 14. The message of the crucifixion is very simple and perfectly clear: "teach ONLY love, for that is what you ARE." If you
interpret it in any other way, you are using it as a weapon for assault rather than as the call to peace for which it was intended. The
Apostles often misunderstood it, and always for the same reason that makes anyone misunderstand anything. Their
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own imperfect love made them vulnerable to projection, and out of their own fear they spoke of the wrath of God as His retaliatory
weapon. They also could not speak of the crucifixion entirely without anger, because their own sense of guilt had made them angry.
T 6 B 15. There are two glaring examples of upside-down thinking in the New Testament, whose whole Gospel is only the message
of love. These are not at all like the several slips into impatience which I made, because I had learned the Atonement prayer, which I
also came to teach, too well to engage in upside-down thinking myself. If the Apostles had not felt guilty, they never could have
quoted ME as saying, "I come not to bring peace but a sword." This is clearly the exact opposite of everything I taught.
T 6 B 16. Nor could they have described my reactions to Judas Iscariot as they did, if they had really understood ME. They could
not have believed that I could have said, "Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" unless I BELIEVED IN BETRAYAL.
The whole message of the crucifixion was simply that I did NOT. The "punishment" which I am said to have called forth upon
Judas was a similar reversal. Judas was my brother and a Son of God, as much a part of the Sonship as myself. Was it likely that I
would condemn him when I was ready to demonstrate that condemnation is impossible?
T 6 B 17. I am very grateful to the Apostles for their teaching, and fully aware of the extent of their devotion to me. But as you read
their teachings, remember that I told them myself that there was much they would understand later, because they were not wholly
ready to follow me at the time. I emphasize this only because I do not want you to allow ANY fear to enter into the thought system
toward which I am guiding you. I do NOT call for martyrs but for TEACHERS.
T 6 B 18. Bill is an outstanding example of this confusion, and has literally believed for years that teaching IS martyrdom. This is
because he thought, and still thinks at times, that teaching leads to crucifixion rather than to re-awakening. The upside-down nature
of this association is so obvious that
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he could only have made it BECAUSE he felt guilty. No-one is "punished" for sins, and the Sons of God are not sinners. ANY
concept of "punishment" involves the projection of blame, and REINFORCES the idea that blame is justified. The behavior that
results is a LESSON IN BLAME, just as all behavior teaches the beliefs that motivate it.
T 6 B 19. The crucifixion was a complex of behaviors arising out of clearly opposed thought systems. As such, it is the perfect
symbol of conflict between the ego and the Son of God. It was as much intrapersonal as interpersonal then, just as it is now, and it is
still just as real. But BECAUSE it is just as real now, its lesson, too, has equal reality WHEN IT IS LEARNED. I do not need
gratitude any more than I needed protection. But YOU need to develop your weakened ability to BE grateful, or you cannot
appreciate God. HE does not need your appreciation, but you DO.
T 6 B 20. You cannot love what you do not appreciate, and FEAR MAKES APPRECIATION IMPOSSIBLE. Whenever you are
afraid of what you are, you do not appreciate it, and will therefore reject it. As a result, you will TEACH REJECTION. The power
of the Sons of God is operating all the time, because they were created as creators. Their influence on EACH OTHER is without
limit, and MUST be used for their joint salvation. Each one MUST learn to teach that all forms of rejection are utterly meaningless.
T 6 B 21. The separation IS the notion of rejection. As long as you teach this, YOU still believe it. This is NOT as God thinks, and
you must think as He thinks if you are to know Him again.
T 6 C. The Uses of Projection (*N 618 6:182)
T 6 C 1. Any split in will MUST involve a rejection of part of it, and this IS the belief in separation. The wholeness of God, which
IS His peace, cannot be appreciated EXCEPT by a whole mind, which recognizes the wholeness of God's creation and BY this
recognition knows its Creator.
T 6 C 2. Exclusion and separation are synonymous. So are separation and dissociation. We have said before that the separation was
and IS dissociation, and also that once it had occurred, projection became its main defense, or the device which KEEPS IT GOING.
The reason, however, may not be
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as clear to you as you think. What you project you disown, and therefore do not believe is yours. You are therefore EXCLUDING
yourself from it, by the very statement you are making that you are DIFFERENT from someone else. Since you have also judged
AGAINST what you project, you attack it because you have already attacked it BY rejecting it. By doing this UNCONSCIOUSLY,
you try to keep the fact that you must have attacked yourself FIRST out of awareness, and thus imagine that you have made yourself
safe.
T 6 C 3. Projection will ALWAYS hurt you. It reinforces your belief in your own split mind, and its ONLY purpose is to KEEP
THE SEPARATION GOING. It is solely a device of the ego to make you feel DIFFERENT from your brothers and separated
FROM them. The ego justifies this on the wholly spurious grounds that it makes you seem better than they are, thus obscuring
equality with them still further.
T 6 C 4. Projection and attack are inevitably related, because projection is ALWAYS a means of JUSTIFYING attack. Anger
without projection is impossible. The ego uses projection ONLY to distort your perception of both yourself AND your brothers. It
begins by excluding something you think exists in you which you do not want, and leads directly to your excluding yourself from
your brothers.
T 6 C 5. But we know that there is another use of projection. Every ability of the ego has a better counterpart, because its abilities
are directed by the mind, which has a better voice. The Holy Spirit, as well as the ego, utilizes projection but since their goals are
opposed, so is the result. The Holy Spirit begins by perceiving YOU as perfect. KNOWING this perfection is shared, it
RECOGNIZES it in others, thus strengthening it in both. Instead of anger, this arouses love FOR both because IT ESTABLISHES
INCLUSION. Perceiving equality, it perceives equal needs. This invites Atonement automatically, because Atonement IS the one
need which is universal.
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T 6 C 6. To perceive YOURSELF in this way is the ONLY way in which you can find happiness in this world. This is because it is
the acknowledgement that you are NOT in this world, and the world IS unhappy. How else can you find joy in a joyless place
EXCEPT by realizing that YOU ARE NOT THERE? You cannot be ANYWHERE that God did not put you, and God created you
as part of HIM. That is both WHERE you are and WHAT you are. This is COMPLETELY unalterable. It is total inclusion. You
cannot change this now or ever. It is forever true. It is NOT a belief, but a fact.
T 6 C 7. Anything that God creates is as true as He is. Its truth lies only in its perfect inclusion in Him Who alone IS perfect. To
deny this in any way is to deny yourself AND Him, because it is impossible to accept one without the other. The perfect equality of
the Holy Spirit's perception is the counterpart of the perfect equality of God's knowing. The ego's perception has no counterpart in
God, but the Holy Spirit remains the bridge between perception and knowledge. By enabling you to use perception in a way that
PARALLELS knowledge, you will ultimately meet it and KNOW it.
T 6 C 8. The ego prefers to believe that parallel lines do not meet, and conceives of their meeting as impossible. You might
remember that the human eye perceives them as if they DO meet in the distance, which is the same as IN THE FUTURE, if time
and space are one dimension. The later mathematics support the interpretation of ultimate convergence of the parallel theoretically.
EVERYTHING meets in God, because everything was created BY Him and IN Him. God created His Sons by extending His
Thought and retaining the extensions of His Thought in His Mind. ALL His Thoughts are thus perfectly united within themselves
and with each other because they, were created neither partially nor in part.
T 6 C 9. The Holy Spirit enables you to PERCEIVE THIS WHOLENESS NOW. You can no more pray for yourselves alone than
you can find joy for yourself
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alone. Prayer is a re-statement of INCLUSION, directed by the Holy Spirit under the laws of God. God created you to create. You
cannot EXTEND His Kingdom until you KNOW of its wholeness. But thoughts begin in the mind OF THE THINKER, from which
they extend outward. This is as true of God's thinking as it is of yours. Because your minds are split, you can also perceive as well
as think, but perception cannot escape from the basic laws of mind. You perceive FROM your mind, and extend your perceptions
outward.
T 6 C 10. Although perception of any kind is unnecessary, YOU made it and the Holy Spirit can therefore use it well. He can
INSPIRE perception and lead it toward God by making it PARALLEL to God's way of thinking, and thus guaranteeing their
ultimate meeting. This convergence SEEMS to be far in the future ONLY because your mind is NOT in perfect alignment with the
idea, and therefore DOES NOT WANT IT NOW. The Holy Spirit USES time, but does NOT believe in it. Coming from God, He
uses EVERYTHING for good, but does not BELIEVE in what is not true.
T 6 C 11. Since the Holy Spirit IS in your minds, then your minds must be able to believe ONLY what is true. The Holy Spirit can
speak only for this, becaFuse he speaks for God. He tells you to return your whole mind to God, BECAUSE IT HAS NEVER LEFT
HIM. If it has never left Him, you need only perceive it AS IT IS to BE returned. The full awareness of the Atonement, then, is the
recognition that the separation NEVER OCCURRED. The ego CANNOT prevail against this, because it is an explicit statement that
the EGO never occurred.
T 6 C 12. The ego can accept the idea that RETURN is necessary, because it can so easily make the idea seem so difficult. But the
Holy Spirit tells you that even RETURN is unnecessary, because what never happened CANNOT involve ANY problem. But it
does NOT follow that YOU cannot make the idea of return both necessary AND difficult. God made nothing either necessary OR
difficult. But YOU have perceived both AS IF they were part of His perfect creations. Yet it is surely clear that the perfect NEED
nothing, and CANNOT
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experience perfection as a difficult accomplishment because that is what they ARE.
T 6 C 13. This is the way in which you MUST perceive God's Creations, bringing all of your perceptions into the one parallel line
which the Holy Spirit sees. This line is the direct line of communication with God, and lets YOUR mind converge with HIS. There
is NO CONFLICT ANYWHERE in this perception, because it means that ALL perception is guided by the Holy Spirit, whose mind
is fixed on God. ONLY the Holy Spirit can resolve conflict, because ONLY the Holy Spirit is conflict-free. He perceives ONLY
what is true in YOUR mind, and extends outward to ONLY what is true in other minds.
T 6 C 14. The difference between the ego's use of projection and projection as the Holy Spirit uses it is very simple. The ego
projects to EXCLUDE and therefore to deceive. The Holy Spirit projects by RECOGNIZING HIMSELF in EVERY mind, and thus
perceives them as ONE. Nothing conflicts in this perception, because what the Holy Spirit perceives IS the same. Wherever He
looks He sees Himself, and because He is UNITED, He offers the whole Kingdom always. This is the one message which God gave
TO Him, and for which He must speak because that is what He IS. The peace of God lies in that message, and so the peace of God
lies in YOU.
T 6 C 15. The great peace of the Kingdom shines in your mind forever, but it must shine OUTWARD to make YOU aware of it.
The Holy Spirit was given you with perfect impartiality, and only by perceiving Him impartially can you perceive Him
at all. The ego is legion, but the Holy Spirit is one. No darkness abides ANYWHERE in the Kingdom, so your part is only to allow
no darkness to abide in your OWN mind. This alignment with Light is unlimited, because it is in alignment with the Light of the
world. Each of us IS the Light of the world, and by joining our minds IN this Light, we proclaim the Kingdom of God together and
AS ONE.
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T 6 D. The Relinquishment of Attack (*N 625 6:193)
T 6 D 1. We have used many words as synonymous which are not ordinarily regarded as the same. We began with having and
being, and recently have used others. Hearing and being is an example, to which we can also add teaching and being, learning and
being, and, above all, PROJECTING and being. This is because, as we have said before, every idea begins in the mind of the thinker
and extends outward. Therefore, what extends FROM the mind IS STILL IN IT, and FROM what it extends IT KNOWS ITSELF.
This is its natural talent.
T 6 D 2. The word "knows" is correct here, even though the ego does NOT know, and is not concerned with BEING at all. The
Holy Spirit still holds knowledge safe through its impartial perception. By attacking nothing, it presents no barrier at all to the
communication of God. Therefore, being is never threatened. Your Godlike mind can never be defiled. The ego never was and never
will be part of it.
T 6 D 3. But through the ego you CAN hear and learn and teach and project WHAT IS NOT TRUE. From this, which YOU have
made, you have taught yourselves to believe you ARE NOT WHAT YOU ARE. You CANNOT teach what you have not learned.
And what you teach you strengthen in yourselves BECAUSE you are sharing it. Every lesson which you teach YOU are learning.
T 6 D 4. That is why you must teach only ONE lesson. If you are to be conflict free yourselves, you must learn ONLY from the
Holy Spirit, and teach ONLY by Him. You ARE only love, but when you denied this you made what you ARE something you must
LEARN. We said before that the message of the Crucifixion was teach ONLY love, for that is what you ARE. This is the ONE
lesson which is perfectly unified, because it is the only lesson which IS one. And only BY teaching it can YOU learn it.
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T 6 D 5. "As you teach so will you learn." If that is true, and it is true indeed, you must never forget that what you teach is teaching
YOU. What you project you BELIEVE. The only REAL safety lies in projecting ONLY the Holy Spirit, because as you see His
gentleness in others your own mind perceives ITSELF as totally harmless. Once it can accept this fully, it does NOT see the need to
PROTECT ITSELF. The protection of God then dawns upon it, assuring it that it is perfectly safe forever.
T 6 D 6. The perfectly safe ARE wholly benign. They bless because they know they ARE blessed. Without anxiety, the mind is
wholly kind, and because it PROJECTS beneficence, it IS beneficent. Safety is the COMPLETE RELINQUISHMENT OF
ATTACK. No compromise is possible in this. Teach attack in any form, and YOU HAVE LEARNED IT AND IT WILL HURT
YOU. But your learning is not immortal, and you can unlearn it BY NOT TEACHING IT. Since you cannot NOT teach, your
salvation lies in teaching exactly the opposite of EVERYTHING THE EGO BELIEVES. This is how YOU will learn the truth that
will make you free, and keep you so as others learn it of YOU.
T 6 D 7. The only way to HAVE peace is to TEACH peace. By learning it through projection, it becomes a part of you that you
KNOW, because you cannot teach what you have dissociated. Only thus can you win back the knowledge you threw away. An idea
which you SHARE you MUST HAVE. It awakens in you through the CONVICTION of teaching. Remember that if teaching is
being and learning is being, then teaching is learning. EVERYTHING you teach YOU are learning. Teach only love, and learn that
love is yours and YOU are love.
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T 6 E. The Only Answer (*N 634 6:198)
T 6 E 1. Remember that the Holy Spirit is the ANSWER, not the question. The ego always speaks first, because it is capricious and
does NOT mean its maker well. This is because it believes, and correctly, that its maker may withdraw his support from it at any
moment. If it meant you well, it would be glad, as the Holy Spirit will be glad when He has brought you home and you no longer
need His guidance. The ego does NOT regard itself as part of you. Herein lies its primary perceptual error, the foundation of its
whole thought system.
T 6 E 2. When God created you, He made you part of Him. That is why attack WITHIN the Kingdom is impossible. But YOU made
the ego without love, and so it does not love YOU. You could not remain WITHIN the Kingdom without love, and since the
Kingdom IS love, you believe you are WITHOUT it. This enables the ego to regard itself as SEPARATE AND OUTSIDE ITS
MAKER, thus speaking for the part of your mind that believes YOU are separate and outside the Mind of God.
T 6 E 3. The ego, then, raised the first question that was ever asked, but it can never answer it. That question, which was "What are
you?" was the beginning of doubt. The ego has never answered ANY questions since, though it has raised a great many. The most
inventive activities of the ego have never done more than OBSCURE THE QUESTION, because you HAVE the answer, and THE
EGO IS AFRAID OF YOU. You cannot really understand conflict until YOU fully understand one basic fact that the ego does not
know. The Holy Spirit does not speak first, but He ALWAYS answers. EVERYONE has called upon Him for help at one time or
another, and in one way or another, AND HAS BEEN ANSWERED. Since the Holy Spirit answers truly, He answers FOR ALL
TIME, and that means that EVERYONE HAS THE ANSWER NOW.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(285) C 112
T 6 E 4. The ego cannot hear the Holy Spirit, but it DOES feel that part of the same mind that made it is against it. It interprets this
wholly as a justification for ATTACKING its maker. The ego believes that the best defense is attack, and WANTS YOU TO
BELIEVE THIS. Unless you DO believe it, you will not side with it. And the ego feels badly in need of allies, though not of
brothers.
T 6 E 5. Perceiving something alien to itself in your MIND, the ego turns to the body, NOT the mind as its ally BECAUSE the body
is not part of you. This makes the body the ego's friend. But it is an alliance frankly based on separation. If you side with this
alliance, you WILL be afraid, because you are siding with an alliance OF fear. The ego and the body conspire AGAINST your
minds, and because they realize that their "enemy" CAN end them both merely by knowing they are not part of him, they join in the
attack together. This is perhaps the strangest perception of all, if you consider what it really involves. The ego, which is not real,
attempts to persuade the mind, which IS real, that it IS its own learning device, and that the learning device is more real than IT is.
No-one in his right mind could POSSIBLY believe this, and no-one in his right mind DOES believe it.
T 6 E 6. Hear, then, the one answer of the Holy Spirit to ALL the questions which the ego raises. You are a Child of God, a
priceless part of His Kingdom, which He created as part of Him. Nothing else exists, and ONLY this is real. You have chosen a
sleep in which you have had bad dreams, but the sleep is not real, and God calls you to awake. There will be nothing left of your
dream when you hear Him, because you WILL be awake. Your dreams have contained many of the ego's symbols, and they have
confused you. But that was only because you were asleep and DID NOT KNOW.
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T 6 E 7. When you awake, you will see the Truth around you and in you, and you will no longer believe in dreams, because they
will have no reality for you. But the Kingdom and all that you have created there will have great reality for you, because they are
beautiful and true. In the Kingdom, where you are and what you are is perfectly certain. There is no doubt there, because the first
question was never asked. Having finally been wholly answered, IT HAS NEVER BEEN. BEING alone lives in the Kingdom,
where everything lives in God without question. The time that was spent on questioning in the dream has given way to the Creation
and to its Eternity.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(287) C 114
T 6 E 8. YOU are as certain as God, because you are as true as He is. But what was once quite certain in your minds has become
only the ABILITY for certainty. The introduction of abilities into being was the beginning of UNcertainty, because abilities are
POTENTIALS, not accomplishments. Your abilities are totally useless in the presence of God's accomplishments and also of yours.
Accomplishments are RESULTS which HAVE BEEN achieved. When they are perfect, abilities are meaningless.
T 6 E 9. It is curious that the perfect must now be perfected. In fact, it is impossible. But you must remember that when you put
yourselves in an impossible situation, you believed that the impossible WAS possible.
T 6 E 10. Abilities must be DEVELOPED, or you cannot use them. This is not true of anything that God created, but it is the
kindest solution possible to what YOU have made. In an impossible situation, you can develop your abilities to the point where they
CAN GET YOU OUT OF IT. You have a guide to how to develop them, but you have no commander EXCEPT YOURSELF. This
leaves YOU in charge of the Kingdom, with both a guide to FIND it and a MEANS to keep it. You have a model to follow who will
strengthen YOUR command, and never detract from it in any way. You therefore retain the central place in your perceived
enslavement, a fact which ITSELF demonstrates that you are NOT enslaved.
T 6 E 11. You are in an impossible situation only because you thought it was possible to be in one. You WOULD be in an
impossible situation if God showed you your perfection, and PROVED to you that you were wrong. This would demonstrate that
the perfect were inadequate to bring THEMSELVES to the awareness of their perfection, and thus side with the belief that those
who have everything need help, and are therefore helpless.
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T 6 E 12. This is the kind of reasoning that the ego engages in, but God, who KNOWS that His creations are perfect does NOT
insult them. This would be as impossible as the ego's notion that it has insulted Him. That is why the Holy Spirit NEVER
commands. To command is to assume INequality, which the Holy Spirit demonstrates does not exist. Fidelity to premises is a law of
the mind, and everything God created is faithful to His laws. But fidelity to other laws is also possible, not because the laws are true,
but because YOU MADE THEM.
T 6 E 13. What would be gained if God proved to you that you have thought insanely? Can God lose His own certainty? We have
frequently stated that what you teach you ARE. Would you have God teach you that you have sinned? If He confronted the self
you have made with the Truth He created FOR you, what could you be but afraid? You would doubt your sanity, which is the one
thing in which you can FIND the sanity He gave you. God does not teach. To teach is to imply a lack which God KNOWS is not
there. God is not conflicted. Teaching aims at change, but God created ONLY the changeless.
T 6 E 14. The separation was not a loss of perfection, but a failure in COMMUNICATION. A harsh and strident form of
communication arose as the ego's voice. It could not shatter the peace of God, but it COULD shatter YOURS. God did not blot it
out, because to eradicate it would be to attack it. Being questioned, He did not question. He merely gave the Answer.
T 6 E 15. God's answer IS your teacher.
T 6 F."To Have, Give All to All" (*N 644 6:208)
T 6 F 1. Like any good teacher, He DOES know more than you know NOW, but He teaches only to make you equals. This is
because you had ALREADY taught wrong, having believed what was not true. YOU DID NOT BELIEVE IN YOUR OWN
PERFECTION. Could God teach you that you had made a split mind when He knows your mind only as whole?
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T 6 F 2. What God DOES know is that His communication channels are not open to Him, so that He cannot impart His joy and
know that His Children are wholly joyous. This is an ongoing process, not in time, but in eternity. God's extending outward, though
not His completeness, was blocked when the Sonship does not communicate with Him as one. So He thought, "My Children sleep,
and must be awakened."
T 6 F 3. How can you wake children better and more kindly than with a gentle Voice that will not frighten them, but will merely
remind them that the night is over and the Light has come? You do not inform them that the nightmares which frightened them so
badly were not real, because children BELIEVE in magic. You merely reassure them that they are safe NOW. Then you train them
to RECOGNIZE THE DIFFERENCE between sleeping and waking, so that THEY will understand they need not be afraid of
dreams. Then when bad dreams come, they will call on the Light THEMSELVES to dispel them.
T 6 F 4. A wise teacher teaches through approach, NOT avoidance. He does not emphasize what you must avoid to escape from
harm as much as what you need to learn to have joy. This is true even of the world's teachers. Consider the confusion that a child
would experience if he were told, "Do not do THIS because it might hurt you and make you unsafe, but if you do THAT you will
escape from harm and be safe, and then you will not be afraid." All of this could be included in only three words: "Do only that."
That simple statement is perfectly clear, easily understood, and very easily remembered.
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T 6 F 5. The Holy Spirit NEVER itemizes errors, because He does not frighten children, and those who lack wisdom ARE children.
But He ALWAYS answers their call, and His dependability makes THEM more certain. Children DO confuse fantasy and reality,
and they ARE frightened because they do not know the difference.
T 6 F 6. The Holy Spirit makes NO distinction among dreams. He merely shines them away. His light is ALWAYS the call to
awake, WHATEVER you may have been dreaming. Nothing lasting lies in dreams, and the Holy Spirit, shining with the light from
God Himself, speaks only for what lasts forever.
T 6 F 7. When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that YOU will last forever. Many think that this is
accomplished through death, but NOTHING is accomplished through death because death is nothing. EVERYTHING is
accomplished through life, and life is of the mind and in the Mind. The body neither lives nor dies, because it cannot contain you
who ARE life. If we share the same mind, YOU CAN OVERCOME DEATH BECAUSE I DID. Death is an attempt to resolve
conflict by not willing at all. Like any other impossible solution which the ego attempts, IT WILL NOT WORK.
T 6 F 8. God did not make the body, because it is destructible, and therefore not of the Kingdom. The body is the symbol of the
WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE. It is clearly a separation device, and therefore does not exist. The Holy Spirit, as always, takes
what you have made and translates it into a learning device FOR you. Again, as always, it re-interprets what the ego uses as an
argument FOR separation into an argument AGAINST it.
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T 6 F 9. If the mind can heal the body, but the body cannot heal the mind, then the mind MUST BE STRONGER. Every miracle
demonstrates this. We have said that the Holy Spirit is the MOTIVATION for miracles. This is because He ALWAYS tells you that
ONLY the mind is real, because only the mind CAN BE SHARED. The body IS separate, and therefore CANNOT be part of you.
To be of one mind is meaningful, but to be of one body is meaningless. By the laws of mind, then, the body IS meaningless.
T 6 F 10. To the Holy Spirit THERE IS NO ORDER OF DIFFICULTY IN MIRACLES. This is FAMILIAR enough to you by
now, but it has not yet become believable. Therefore, you do not understand it and cannot USE it. We have too much to accomplish
on behalf of the Kingdom to let this crucial concept slip away. It is a real foundation stone of the thought system I teach and want
YOU to teach. You cannot perform miracles without believing it, because it is a belief in perfect equality.
T 6 F 11. Only one equal gift CAN be offered to the equal Sons of God, and that is FULL APPRECIATION. Nothing more and
nothing less. Without a range, order of difficulty IS meaningless, and there must BE no range in what you offer to each other. The
Holy Spirit, which leads to God, translates communication into being, just as He ultimately translates perception into knowledge.
T 6 F 12. You DO NOT LOSE WHAT YOU COMMUNICATE. The ego uses the body for attack, for pleasure, and for pride. The
insanity of this perception makes it a fearful one. The Holy Spirit sees it only as a means of COMMUNICATION. And because
communicating IS sharing, it becomes communion. You might argue that fear as well as love can be communicated, and therefore
can be shared. But this is not so real as it sounds. Those who communicate fear are promoting attack, and attack always BREAKS
communication, and therefore makes communion impossible.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(292) 119
T 6 F 13. Egos DO join together in temporary allegiance, but always for WHAT EACH ONE CAN GET SEPARATELY. The Holy
Spirit communicates only WHAT EACH ONE CAN GIVE TO ALL. He never takes ANYTHING back, because He wants YOU to
keep it. Therefore, His teaching begins with the lesson: To HAVE, GIVE all TO all.
T 6 F 14. This is a very preliminary step, and THE ONLY ONE YOU MUST TAKE YOURSELF. It is not even necessary that you
COMPLETE the step yourself, but it IS necessary that you turn in that direction. Having willed to go that way, you place
YOURSELF in charge of the journey, where you and ONLY you must remain.
T 6 F 15. This step APPEARS to exacerbate conflict rather than resolve it, because it is the BEGINNING step in reversing your
perception and turning it right side up. This conflicts with the upside-down perception which you have not yet abandoned, or the
change in direction would not have been necessary. Some people remain at this step for a very long time, experiencing VERY acute
conflict. Many try to accept the CONFLICT, rather than to take the next step toward its resolution. But having taken the first step,
they WILL be helped. Having willed what they CANNOT complete alone, THEY ARE NO LONGER ALONE.
T 6 F 16. You, Helen, had taken this step, and because you believed in it, you taught it to Bill, who still believed in the solution of
sleep. You were not consistent in teaching it, but you did so often enough to enable him to learn it. Once HE learned it, he could
teach YOU how to become more consistently awake, and thus begin to waken HIMSELF. This placed him, too, in command of the
journey. His recognition of the direction it must take was perfectly stated when he INSISTED ON COLLABORATION.
T 6 F 17. You, H., had taken a giant step INTO conflict, but B. turned you both forwards TOWARD THE WAY OUT. The more he
teaches this, the more he will learn it.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(293) C 120
T 6 G. "To Have Peace, Teach Peace to Learn It" (*N 654 6:218)
T 6 G 1. All the separated ones have a basic fear of retaliation and abandonment. This is because they BELIEVE in attack and
rejection, so this is what they perceive and teach and LEARN. These insane concepts are clearly the result of their own dissociation
and projection. What you teach you are, but it is quite apparent that you can teach wrongly, and therefore TEACH YOURSELVES
WRONG. Many thought that I was attacking them, even though it is quite apparent that I was NOT. An insane learner learns strange
lessons.
T 6 G 2. What you must understand is that, when you do not SHARE a thought system, you ARE weakening it. Those who
BELIEVE in it therefore perceive this as an ATTACK ON THEM. This is because everyone identifies himself WITH his thought
system, and EVERY thought system centers on WHAT YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE. If the center of the thought system is TRUE,
only truth extends outward from it. But if a lie is at its center, only DECEPTION proceeds from it. All good teachers realize that
only fundamental change will last. But they do NOT begin at that level. Strengthening MOTIVATION for change is their first and
foremost goal. It is also their last and final one. Increasing motivation for change IN THE LEARNER is all that a teacher NEED do
to GUARANTEE change. This is because a change in motivation IS a change of mind, and this will INEVITABLY produce
fundamental change BECAUSE the mind is fundamental.
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T 6 G 3. The first step in the reversal or undoing process, then, is the UNDOING of the getting concept. Accordingly, the Holy
Spirit's first lesson was: To HAVE, GIVE all TO all. We said that this is apt to INCREASE conflict temporarily, and we can clarify
this still further now. At this point, the equality of having and being is not yet perceived. Until it IS, having still appears to be the
OPPOSITE of being. Therefore, the first lesson SEEMS to contain a contradiction because it is BEING LEARNED BY A
CONFLICTED MIND. This MEANS conflicting motivation, and so the lesson CANNOT be learned consistently as yet.
T 6 G 4. Further, the mind of the learner projects its own split, and therefore does NOT perceive consistent minds in others, making
him suspicious of THEIR motivations. This is the real reason why in many respects the first lesson is the hardest to learn. Still
strongly aware of the ego in himself, and responding primarily TO the ego in others, he is being taught to react to BOTH as if what
he DOES believe IS NOT TRUE.
T 6 G 5. upside-down as always, the ego perceives the first lesson as insane. In fact, this is its only alternative here, because the
other one, which would be much LESS acceptable, would obviously be that IT is insane. The ego's judgment, then, is
predetermined by what it IS, though not more so than is any other product of thought. The fundamental change will still occur with
the change of mind IN THE THINKER.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(295) 122
T 6 G 6. Meanwhile, the increasing clarity of the Holy Spirit's voice makes it impossible for the learner NOT TO LISTEN. For a
time, then, he IS receiving conflicting messages AND ACCEPTING BOTH. This is the classic "double bind" in communication,
which you wrote about yourselves quite recently, and with good examples too. It is interesting that Helen claimed at the time that
she had never heard of it and did not understand it. You might remember our brother's insistence on its inclusion. Helen thought he
had become (quite) irrational on this point, but it was quite strongly reinforced in HIS mind, and so he wanted to teach it in his text.
This, of course, was a very good way for YOU to learn it.
T 6 G 7. The way out of conflict between two opposing thought systems is clearly TO CHOOSE ONE AND RELINQUISH THE
OTHER. If you identify WITH your thought system, and you cannot escape this, and if you accept two thought systems which are
in COMPLETE DISagreement, peace of mind IS impossible. If you TEACH both, which you will surely do as long as you
ACCEPT both, you are teaching conflict and LEARNING it. But you DO want peace, or you would not have called upon the voice
for PEACE to help you. His LESSON is not insane, but the CONFLICT IS.
T 6 G 8. There can BE no conflict between sanity and insanity, because only one is true, and therefore only ONE is REAL. The ego
tries to persuade you that it is up to YOU to decide which voice is true. But the Holy Spirit teaches you that truth was created by
God, and YOUR decision CANNOT change it. As you begin to realize the quiet power of His Voice AND ITS PERFECT
CONSISTENCY, it MUST dawn on your minds that you are
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(296) C 123
trying to undo a decision which was made irrevocably FOR you. That is why we suggested before that there was help in reminding
yourselves to allow the Holy Spirit to decide for God for YOU.
T 6 G 9. You are NOT asked to make insane decisions, although you are free to THINK you are. But it MUST be insane to believe
IT IS UP TO YOU to decide what God's Creations ARE. The Holy Spirit perceives the conflict EXACTLY AS IT IS. Therefore,
His second lesson is: To HAVE peace, TEACH peace to LEARN it.
T 6 G 10. This is still a preliminary step, because having and being are still not equated but it is more advanced than the first step,
which is really only a thought REVERSAL. The second step is a positive affirmation of WHAT YOU WANT. This, then IS a step
in the direction OUT of conflict, because it means that alternatives have been considered, and ONE has been chosen as MORE
DESIRABLE.
T 6 G 11. But the evaluation "more desirable" still implies that the desirable has degrees. Therefore, although this step is essential
for the ultimate decision, it is clearly NOT the final one.
T 6 G 12. It should be clear that the recognition of the lack of order in miracles has not yet been accepted, because NOTHING is
difficult that is WHOLLY DESIRED. To desire wholly is to CREATE, and creating CANNOT be difficult if God Himself created
you AS a creator. The second step, then, is still perceptual but it is nevertheless a giant step toward the unified perception that
parallels God's knowing.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(297) C 124
T 6 G 13. As you take this step and HOLD THIS DIRECTION, you will be pushing toward the center of your thought system,
where the FUNDAMENTAL change will occur. You are only beginning this step now, but you have started on this way by realizing
that ONLY ONE WAY IS POSSIBLE. You do not yet realize this consistently, and so your progress is intermittent, but the second
step is easier than the first, because it FOLLOWS. The very fact that you have accepted THAT is a demonstration of your growing
awareness that the Holy Spirit WILL lead you on.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(298) C 125
T 6 H."Be Vigilant Only for God and His Kingdom" (*N 663 6:227)
T 6 H 1. For your own salvation you MUST be critical, because YOUR salvation IS critical to the whole Sonship. We said before
that the Holy Spirit IS evaluative, and MUST be. Yet His evaluation does not extend BEYOND you, or you WOULD share it. In
YOUR mind, and your mind ONLY, He sorts out the true from the false, and teaches you to judge every thought that you allow to
ENTER in the light of what God PUT there. Whatever is IN ACCORD with this light He retains, to strengthen the Kingdom in
YOU. When it is PARTLY in accord with truth He accepts it and purifies it. But what is OUT OF ACCORD ENTIRELY He rejects
by judging against. This is how He keeps the Kingdom perfectly consistent and perfectly unified.
T 6 H 2. But what you must remember is that what the Holy Spirit REJECTS the ego ACCEPTS. This is because they are in
fundamental disagreement about everything, because they are in fundamental disagreement about WHAT YOU ARE. The ego's
beliefs on this crucial issue vary, and that is why it promotes different moods. The Holy Spirit NEVER varies on this point, and so
the ONE mood that He engenders is joy. He protects this by rejecting everything that does NOT foster joy, and so He alone can
keep you wholly joyous.
T 6 H 3. The Holy Spirit does not teach your mind to be critical of other minds, because He does not want you to teach your errors
and LEARN THEM YOURSELVES. He would hardly be consistent if He allowed you to STRENGTHEN what you must learn to
avoid. In the mind of the THINKER, then, He IS judgmental, but only in order to unify it so it can perceive WITHOUT judgment.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(299) C 126
This enables the mind to TEACH without judgment and therefore learn to BE without judgment. The UNdoing is necessary only in
YOUR mind, so that you cannot PROJECT it. God Himself has established what you can project with perfect safety. Therefore, the
Holy Spirit's third lesson is: Be vigilant ONLY for God and HIS Kingdom.
T 6 H 4. This is a major step toward FUNDAMENTAL change. Yet it is still a lesson in thought REVERSAL, because it implies
that there is something you must be vigilant AGAINST. It has advanced far from the first lesson which was PRIMARILY a
reversal, and also from the second, which was essentially the identification of what is MORE desirable. This step, which follows
from the second as the second does from the first, emphasizes the DICHOTOMY between the desirable and the UNdesirable. It
therefore makes the ULTIMATE choice inevitable. But while the first step seems to INCREASE conflict, and the second still
ENTAILS it to some extent, this one calls for CONSISTENT EFFORT AGAINST IT.
T 6 H 5. We said already that you can be as vigilant AGAINST the ego as FOR it. This lesson teaches not that you CAN be, but that
you MUST be. It does not concern itself with order of difficulty, but with CLEAR-CUT PRIORITY FOR VIGILANCE. This step is
unequivocal in that it teaches THERE MUST BE NO EXCEPTIONS, but it does NOT deny that the temptations to MAKE
exceptions will occur. Here, then, your consistency is called on DESPITE chaos. But chaos and consistency CANNOT coexist for
long, because they are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(300) 127
As long as you must be vigilant against ANYTHING, however, you are not recognizing this, and are holding the belief that you can
CHOOSE EITHER ONE
T 6 H 6. By teaching you WHAT to choose, the Holy Spirit will ultimately be able to teach you that YOU NEED NOT CHOOSE
AT ALL. This will finally liberate your will FROM choice, and direct it toward creation WITHIN the Kingdom. Choosing through
the Holy Spirit will only lead you TO it. You create by what you ARE, but this IS what you must learn. The way to learn it is
INHERENT in the third step, which brings together the lessons inherent in the others, and goes beyond them toward real
integration.
T 6 H 7. If you allow yourselves to HAVE in your minds only what God put there, you are acknowledging your mind as God
created it. Therefore, you are accepting it AS IT IS. And since it IS whole, you are teaching peace BECAUSE you have believed in
it. The final step will still be taken FOR you by God. But by the third step, the Holy Spirit has PREPARED you FOR God. He is
GETTING YOU READY to translate having into being by the very nature of the steps you must take WITH Him. You learn first
that having rests on GIVING and NOT getting. Next you learn that you learn what you TEACH, and that you WANT TO LEARN
PEACE. This is the CONDITION for identifying WITH the Kingdom, because it is the condition OF the Kingdom.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(301) 128
T 6 H 8. But you have believed that you are WITHOUT the Kingdom, and have therefore excluded yourself FROM it in your belief.
It is therefore essential to teach you that YOU must be INCLUDED, and the BELIEF THAT YOU ARE NOT is the ONLY thing
that you must exclude.
T 6 H 9. The third step is thus one of PROTECTION for your minds by allowing you to identify ONLY with the center, where God
placed the altar to HIMSELF. We have already said that altars are BELIEFS, but God and His creations are BEYOND belief
because they are beyond question. The Voice FOR God speaks only for BELIEF beyond question, but this IS the preparation for
BEING without question.
T 6 H 10. As long as belief in God and His Kingdom is assailed by ANY doubts in your minds, His perfect Accomplishment is
NOT apparent to you. This is why you MUST be vigilant ON GOD's BEHALF. The ego speaks AGAINST His Creation, and
therefore DOES engender doubt. You cannot go BEYOND belief UNTIL you believe wholly. No-one can EXTEND a lesson he has
NOT LEARNED FULLY. Transfer, which IS extension, is the measure of learning because it is the MEASURABLE RESULT.
This, however, does NOT mean that what it transfers TO is measurable. On the contrary, unless it transfers to the whole Sonship,
which is immeasurable because it was created BY the Immeasurable, the learning itself MUST be incomplete.
T 6 H 11. To teach the WHOLE Sonship WITHOUT EXCEPTION demonstrates that you PERCEIVE ITS WHOLENESS and have
learned that it IS One. Now you must be vigilant to HOLD its Oneness in your minds because if you allow doubt to enter, YOU will
lose awareness of its wholeness, and WILL BE UNABLE TO TEACH IT.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(302) C 129
The wholeness of the Kingdom does NOT depend on your perception, but your AWARENESS of its wholeness DOES. It is only
your awareness that NEEDS protection, because your BEING cannot be assailed. Yet a real sense of being CANNOT be yours
while you are doubtful of what you ARE. THIS IS WHY VIGILANCE IS ESSENTIAL. Doubts ABOUT being MUST not enter
your mind, or you CANNOT know what you are with certainty.
T 6 H 12. Certainty is OF God for YOU. Vigilance is not necessary for truth, but it IS necessary AGAINST ILLUSION. Truth is
WITHOUT illusions, and therefore WITHIN the Kingdom. Everything OUTSIDE the Kingdom IS ILLUSION. But you must learn
to ACCEPT truth because YOU THREW IT AWAY. You therefore saw yourself AS IF you were WITHOUT it. By making another
Kingdom WHICH YOU VALUED, you did NOT keep the Kingdom of God alone in your minds, and thus placed part of your mind
OUTSIDE of it. What you have made has thus DIVIDED YOUR WILL and given you a sick mind that MUST be healed. Your
vigilance AGAINST this sickness IS the way to heal it.
T 6 H 13. Once YOUR mind is healed, it radiates health and thereby TEACHES healing. This establishes you as a teacher who
teaches LIKE me. Vigilance was required of me as much as of you. But remember that those who will to teach the same thing
MUST be in agreement about what they believe.
T 6 H 14. The third step, then, is a statement of what you WANT to believe, and entails a willingness to RELINQUISH
EVERYTHING ELSE. I told you that you were just beginning the second step, but I also told you that the third one FOLLOWS it.
The Holy Spirit WILL enable you to go on IF YOU FOLLOW HIM. Your vigilance is the sign that you WANT Him to guide you.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(303) C 130
Vigilance DOES require effort, but only to teach you that effort ITSELF is unnecessary. You have exerted GREAT effort to
preserve what you made BECAUSE it is NOT true. Therefore, you must now turn your effort AGAINST it. Only this can cancel out
the NEED for effort, and call upon the BEING which you both HAVE and ARE. THIS recognition is wholly WITHOUT effort,
because it is ALREADY true and needs no protection. It is in the perfect safety of God. Therefore, inclusion is total and Creation is
WITHOUT LIMIT.
CHAPTER 7 – THE CONSISTENCY OF THE KINGDOM
T 7 A. Introduction (*N 675 7:7)
T 7 A 1. The creative power of both God AND His Creations is limitless, but it is NOT in reciprocal relationship. You DO
communicate fully WITH God, as He does with YOU. This is an ongoing process in which you SHARE, and BECAUSE you share
it, you are inspired to create LIKE God. But in Creation you are NOT in a reciprocal relation TO God, because He created YOU, but
you did NOT create Him. We have already stated that only in this respect your creative power differs from His. Even in this world
there is a parallel. Parents give birth to children, but children do NOT give birth to parents. They DO, however, give birth to their
children, and thus give birth AS their parents do.
T 7 A 2. If you created GOD and He created you, the KINGDOM could not increase through its OWN creative thought. Creation
would therefore be limited, and you would NOT be co-creators WITH God. As God's creative Thought proceeds FROM Him TO
you, so must YOUR creative thought proceed FROM you to YOUR creations. In this way only can ALL creative power EXTEND
OUTWARD.
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God's accomplishments are NOT yours. But yours are LIKE His. HE created the Sonship, and YOU increase it. You HAVE the
power to ADD to the Kingdom, but NOT to add to the Creator OF the Kingdom.
T 7 A 3. You claim this power when you have become wholly vigilant for God AND the Kingdom. BY ACCEPTING this power as
YOURS, you have learned to be what you ARE. YOUR creations belong in YOU, as YOU belong in God. You are part of God, as
your sons are part of His Sons. To create is to love. Love extends outward simply because it cannot be contained. Being limitless, it
DOES NOT STOP. It creates forever, but NOT in time. God's creations have ALWAYS BEEN, because HE has always been.
YOUR creations have always been, because you can create only as HE creates.
T 7 A 4. Eternity is yours because He created you eternal.
T 7 B. Bargaining versus Healing (*N 677 7:9)
T 7 B 1. The ego demands RECIPROCAL rights, because it is competitive rather than loving. It is always willing to make a deal,
but it cannot understand that to be LIKE another means that NO DEALS ARE POSSIBLE. To gain you must GIVE, not bargain. To
bargain is to LIMIT giving, and this is NOT God's Will. To will WITH God is to create like HIM. God does not limit HIS gifts in
ANY way. YOU are His gifts, and so your gifts must be like HIS.
T 7 B 2. Your gifts TO the Kingdom are like His to YOU. I gave ONLY love to the Kingdom, because I believed that was what I
WAS. What you believe you are DETERMINES your gifts, and if God created you by extending HIMSELF AS you, you can only
extend YOURSELF as He did. Only joy increases forever. Joy and Eternity are INSEPARABLE. God extends outward beyond
limits and beyond time, and you, who are co-creators with Him, extend His Kingdom forever and beyond limit.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(305) C 132
Eternity is the indelible stamp of Creation. The eternal are in peace and joy forever.
T 7 B 3. To think like God is to share His certainty of WHAT YOU ARE. And to CREATE like Him is to share the perfect love He
shares with YOU. To this the Holy Spirit leads you, that your joy may be complete because the Kingdom of God is whole. We have
said that the last step in the re-awakening of knowledge is taken by God. This is true, but it is hard to explain in words, because
words are symbols, and nothing that is true NEEDS to be explained. However, the Holy Spirit always has the task of translating the
useLESS into the useFUL, the meaningLESS into the meaningFUL, and the temporary into the timeLESS. He CAN, therefore, tell
you something about this last step, but this one you must know yourself, because BY it you know what you are. This IS your being.
T 7 B 4. God does not take steps because His Accomplishments are NOT gradual. He does not teach, because His Creations are
changeless. He does nothing LAST because He Created FIRST and FOR ALWAYS. It must be understood that the word "first" as
applied to Him is NOT a time concept. He is first here only in the sense that He is first in the Holy Trinity Itself. He is the Prime
Creator because HE created His co-creators. Because He DID, time applies neither to Him NOR to what He created.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(306) C 133
T 7 B 5. The "last step" that God was said to take was therefore true in the beginning, is true now, and will be true forever. What is
timeless IS ALWAYS THERE because its BEING is eternally changeless. It does NOT change by increase, because it was forever
created TO increase. If you perceive it as NOT increasing, you do not know what it IS. You also do not know what created it, or
who HE is. God does not REVEAL this to you, because it was never hidden. His light was never obscured, because it is His Will to
SHARE it. How can what is fully shared be withheld and then revealed?
T 7 B 6. To heal is the ONLY kind of thinking in this world that resembles the Thought of God, and because of the elements which
they SHARE, can transfer TO it. When a brother perceives himself as sick, he IS perceiving himself as NOT WHOLE, and
therefore IN NEED. If you, too, see him this way, you are seeing him as if he were ABSENT from the Kingdom or separated
FROM it, thus making the Kingdom ITSELF obscure to BOTH OF YOU. Sickness and separation are not of God, but the Kingdom
IS. If you obscure the Kingdom, you are perceiving WHAT IS NOT OF GOD.
T 7 C. The Laws of Mind (*N 682 7:14)
T 7 C 1. To heal, then, is to correct perception in your brother AND yourself by SHARING THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH HIM. This
places you both WITHIN the Kingdom and restores ITS wholeness in your minds. This PARALLELS creation because it UNIFIES
BY INCREASING, and INTEGRATES BY EXTENDING.
T 7 C 2. WHAT YOU PROJECT YOU BELIEVE. This is an immutable law of mind in this world as well as in the Kingdom.
However, its CONTENT is somewhat different in this world from what it REALLY is, because the thoughts it governs are VERY
different from the thoughts in the Kingdom. Laws must be adapted to circumstances, if they are to maintain order.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(307) C 134
T 7 C 3. The outstanding characteristic of the laws of mind, as they operate in this world, is that by obeying them, and I assure you
that you MUST obey them, you can arrive at diametrically opposed results. This is because the laws have adapted to the
circumstances of this world, in which diametrically opposed outcomes are BELIEVED in. The laws of mind govern thoughts, and
you DO respond to two conflicting voices. You have heard many arguments on behalf of "the freedoms," which would indeed have
BEEN freedom if man had not chosen to FIGHT for them. That is why they perceive "the freedoms" as many instead of ONE.
T 7 C 4. But the argument that underlies the DEFENSE of freedom is perfectly valid. Because it is true, it should not be FOUGHT
for, but it SHOULD be sided WITH. Those who are AGAINST freedom believe that its outcome will hurt them, which CANNOT
be true. But those who are FOR freedom, even if they are misguided in HOW they defend it, are siding with the one thing in this
world which IS true. Whenever anyone can listen fairly to both sides of ANY issue, he WILL make the right decision. This is
because he HAS the answer. Conflict can indeed be projected, but it MUST be intrapersonal first.
T 7 C 5. The term "intraPERSONAL" is an ego term, because "personal" implies of ONE person, and NOT of others.
"Interpersonal" has a similar error, because it implies something that exists between DIFFERENT individuals. When we spoke
before of the extremely PERSONAL nature of revelation, we followed this statement immediately with a description of the
inevitable outcomes of the revelation in terms of SHARING. A PERSON conceives of himself as separate, largely because he
perceives OF himself as bounded by a body. ONLY if he perceives as a MIND can he overcome this. THEN he is free to use terms
like "intraMENTAL" and "interMENTAL" WITHOUT seeing them as different and conflicting, because minds CAN be in perfect
accord.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(308) C 135
T 7 C 6. OUTSIDE the Kingdom, the law which prevails INSIDE it is ADAPTED to "what you project you believe." This is its
TEACHING form, because outside the Kingdom teaching is mandatory because learning is essential. This form of the law clearly
implies that you will learn what YOU are from what you have projected onto others and therefore believe THEY are. IN the
Kingdom, there is no teaching OR learning, because there is no BELIEF. There is only CERTAINTY. God and His Sons, in the
surety of Being, KNOW that what you project you ARE.
T 7 C 7. That form of the law is NOT adapted at all, being the Law of Creation. God Himself created the law by creating BY it. And
His Sons, who create LIKE Him, follow it gladly, knowing that the INCREASE of the Kingdom depends on it, just as THEIR
creation did. Laws must be communicated, if they are to be helpful. In effect, they must be TRANSLATED for those who speak a
different language. But a good translator, though he MUST alter the FORM of what he translates, NEVER changes the meaning. In
fact, his whole PURPOSE is to change the form SO THAT the original meaning IS retained.
T 7 C 8. The Holy Spirit IS the translator of the Laws of God to those who do NOT understand them. YOU could not do this
yourselves because conflicted minds CANNOT be faithful to one meaning, and will therefore CHANGE THE MEANING TO
PRESERVE THE FORM. The Holy Spirit's purpose in translating is naturally EXACTLY the opposite. He translates ONLY to
preserve the original meaning in ALL respects and in ALL languages. Therefore, He OPPOSES differences in form as meaningful,
and emphasizes always that THESE DIFFERENCES DO NOT MATTER. The meaning of His message is ALWAYS the same, and
ONLY the meaning matters.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(309) C 136
T 7 C 9. God's Law of Creation, in perfect form, does NOT involve the USE of truth to convince His sons OF truth. The
EXTENSION of truth, which IS the Law of the Kingdom, rests only on the knowledge of WHAT TRUTH IS. This is your
INHERITANCE, and requires no learning at all. But when you DISinherited YOURSELVES, you BECAME learners. No-one
questions the intimate connection of learning and memory. Learning is impossible WITHOUT memory, because it CANNOT be
consistent UNLESS it is remembered.
T 7 C 10. That is why the Holy Spirit IS a lesson in remembering. We said before that He teaches remembering and FORGETTING,
but the forgetting aspect is only TO MAKE THE REMEMBERING CONSISTENT. You forget to REMEMBER BETTER. You
will NOT understand His translations while you listen to two ways of perceiving them. Therefore, you must forget or relinquish one
to UNDERSTAND the other. This is the only way you can LEARN consistency, so that you can finally BE consistent. What can the
perfect consistency of the Kingdom MEAN to the confused? It MUST be apparent that confusion INTERFERES with meaning, and
therefore PREVENTS THE LEARNER FROM APPRECIATING IT.
T 7 C 11. There is NO confusion in the Kingdom, because there IS only one meaning. This Meaning comes from God and IS God.
Because it is also YOU, you share it and EXTEND it AS YOUR CREATOR DID. This needs no translation, because it is perfectly
understood, but it DOES need extension because it MEANS extension. Communication here is perfectly direct and perfectly united.
It is totally without strain, because nothing discordant EVER enters. That is why it IS the Kingdom of God. It belongs to Him and is
therefore LIKE Him. That IS its reality, and nothing CAN assail it.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(310) C 137
T 7 D. The Unified Curriculum (*N 691 7:23)
T 7 D 1. To heal is to liberate totally. We once said there is no order in miracles because they are all MAXIMAL EXPRESSIONS
OF LOVE. This has no range at all. The non-maximal only APPEARS to have a range. This is because it SEEMS to be meaningful
to measure it FROM the maximum and identify its position by HOW MUCH IT IS NOT THERE. Actually, this does not mean
ANYTHING. It is like negative numbers in that the concept can be used theoretically, but it has NO application practically. It is true
that if you put three apples on the table and then took them AWAY, the three apples are NOT THERE. But it is NOT true that the
table is now MINUS three apples. If there is NOTHING on the table, it does NOT matter what WAS there in terms of amount. The
"nothing" is neither greater nor less because of what is ABSENT.
T 7 D 2. That is why "all" and "nothing" are dichotomous, WITHOUT A RANGE. This is perfectly clear in maximal test
performance and for EXACTLY the reason you emphasize. You cannot interpret AT ALL, unless you assume either MAXIMAL
motivation or its COMPLETE ABSENCE. Only in these two conditions can you validly COMPARE responses, and you MUST
assume the former, because if the LATTER is true, the subject WILL NOT DO ANYTHING. Given VARIABLE motivation he
WILL do something, but you CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS.
T 7 D 3. The RESULTS of tests are evaluated relatively, ASSUMING maximal motivation. But this is because we are dealing with
ABILITIES, where degree of development IS meaningful. This does NOT mean that what ability is used FOR is necessarily either
limited OR divided. But one thing is certain. Abilities are POTENTIALS for learning, and you will apply them to WHAT YOU
WANT
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(311) C 138
TO LEARN. Learning is EFFORT, and effort MEANS will.
T 7 D 4. You will notice that we have used the term "abilities" as a plural, which is correct. This is because abilities began with the
ego, which perceived them as a POTENTIAL FOR EXCELLING. This is how the ego STILL perceives them and uses them. It does
NOT want to teach everyone all it has learned, because that would DEFEAT its purpose in learning. Therefore, it does not REALLY
learn at all. The Holy Spirit teaches YOU to use what the ego has made to TEACH the opposite of what the ego has LEARNED.
The KIND of learning is as irrelevant as is the particular ability which was applied TO the learning.
T 7 D 5. You could not have a better example of the Holy Spirit's (this) unified purpose than this course. The Holy Spirit has taken
very diversified areas of YOUR past learning, and has applied them to a UNIFIED curriculum. The fact that this was NOT the ego's
reason for learning is totally irrelevant. YOU made the effort to learn, and the Holy Spirit has a unified goal for ALL effort. He
ADAPTS the ego's potentials for excelling to potentials for EQUALIZING. This makes them USELESS for the ego's purpose, but
VERY useful for His.
T 7 D 6. If different abilities are applied long enough to one GOAL, the abilities THEMSELVES become unified. This is because
they are channelized in one direction, or in one WAY. Ultimately, then, they all contribute to ONE RESULT, and by so doing, their
SIMILARITY rather than their differences is emphasized. You can EXCEL in many DIFFERENT ways, but you can EQUALIZE
in ONE WAY ONLY. Equality is NOT a variable state, by definition.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(312) C 139
T 7 D 7. That is why we once said that papers will be easy to write when you have learned THIS course. To the ego there appears to
be no connection, because the EGO is discontinuous. But the Holy Spirit teaches one lesson and applies it to ALL individuals in
ALL situations. Being conflict free, He maximizes ALL efforts and ALL results. By teaching the power of the Kingdom of God
Himself, He teaches you that ALL POWER IS YOURS. Its application does not matter. It is ALWAYS maximal. Your vigilance
does NOT establish it as yours, but it DOES enable you to use it ALWAYS and in ALL WAYS.
T 7 D 8. When I said, "Behold I am with you always," I meant it literally. I am not absent to ANYONE nor in ANY situation.
BECAUSE I am always with you, YOU are the Way, and the Truth, and the Light. YOU did not make this power any more than I
did. It was created to BE shared, and therefore cannot be meaningfully perceived as BELONGING to anyone AT THE EXPENSE
of another. This perception makes it meaningLESS by eliminating or overlooking its real and ONLY meaning.
T 7 E. The Recognition of Truth (*N 696 7:28)
T 7 E 1. God's MEANING waits in the Kingdom because that is where He placed it. It does NOT wait in time. It merely RESTS
there (in the Kingdom) because it BELONGS there, as YOU do. How can you, who ARE God's meaning, perceive yourselves as
absent FROM it? You can see yourselves as separated FROM your meaning only by EXPERIENCING YOURSELF AS UNREAL.
This is WHY the ego is insane; it teaches that you are NOT what you ARE. This is so contradictory that it is clearly impossible. It is
therefore a lesson which you CANNOT REALLY LEARN, and therefore CANNOT REALLY TEACH. But you ARE always
teaching. You MUST, then, be teaching SOMETHING ELSE AS WELL, even though the ego DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(313) C 140
T 7 E 2. The ego, then, IS always being undone, and DOES suspect your motives. Your mind CANNOT be unified in allegiance to
the ego, because the mind does NOT belong to it. But what is "treacherous" to the ego IS faithful to peace. The ego's "enemy" is
therefore YOUR friend. We said before that the ego's friend is not part of you but that is because the ego perceives itself as at war
and therefore in need of allies. YOU, who are NOT at war, must look for brothers and RECOGNIZE all you see AS brothers,
because ONLY EQUALS ARE AT PEACE.
T 7 E 3. Because God's equal Sons have everything, they CANNOT compete. But if they perceive ANY of their brothers as
anything OTHER than their perfect equals, the IDEA of competition HAS entered their minds. Do not underestimate your need to
be vigilant AGAINST this idea, because ALL your conflicts come FROM it. It IS the belief that conflicting interests are possible,
and therefore means that you have accepted the IMpossible as true. How is that different from saying that you are perceiving
YOURSELF as unreal?
T 7 E 4. To be IN the Kingdom is merely to focus your full attention ON it. As long as you believe that you can ATTEND to what is
NOT true, you are accepting conflict as your CHOICE. IS IT REALLY A CHOICE? It SEEMS to be, but seeming and reality are
hardly the same. You who ARE the Kingdom are not concerned with seeming. Reality is yours because you ARE reality. This is
how having and being are ultimately reconciled, not in the Kingdom, but IN YOUR MINDS. The altar there is the ONLY reality. It
is PERFECTLY clear in its thought, because it is a reflection of PERFECT Thought. It SEES only brothers because it sees ONLY
in its own Light.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(314) C 141
T 7 E 5. God has lit your minds Himself, and keeps your mind lit BY His light because His light is WHAT YOUR MINDS ARE.
This is TOTALLY beyond question. And when you questioned it, you WERE answered. The answer merely UNDOES the question
by establishing the fact that to QUESTION reality is to question MEANINGLESSLY. That is why the Holy Spirit NEVER
questions. Its sole function is to UNdo the questionable, and thus LEAD TO CERTAINTY. The certain are perfectly calm, because
they are not in doubt. They do NOT raise questions because NOTHING QUESTIONABLE ENTERS THEIR MINDS. This holds
them in perfect serenity because this is what they SHARE, KNOWING what they are.
T 7 E 6. Healing is both an art and a science, as has so often been said. It is an art because it depends on inspiration in the sense that
we have already used the term. Inspiration is the opposite of dis-spiriting, and therefore means to make joyful. The dis-spirited are
depressed because they believe that they are literally "without the Spirit," which is an illusion. You do not PUT the Spirit in them by
inspiring them, because that would be "magic," and therefore would not be real healing. But you DO recognize the Spirit that is
ALREADY THERE, and thereby REAWAKEN IT. This is why the healer is part of the Resurrection and the Life. The SPIRIT is
not asleep in the minds of the sick, but the part of the mind that can perceive it and be glad IS.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(315) C 142
T 7 E 7. Healing is also a science because it obeys the laws of God, whose laws are true. BECAUSE they are true, they are perfectly
dependable, and therefore universal in application. The real aim of science is neither prediction nor control, but ONLY
UNDERSTANDING. This is because it does NOT establish the laws it seeks; cannot discover them through prediction, and has NO
control over them at all. Science is nothing more than an approach to WHAT ALREADY IS. Like inspiration, it can be
misunderstood as magic, and WILL be whenever it is undertaken as SEPARATE from what already is, and perceived as a means for
ESTABLISHING it. To believe this is possible is to believe YOU CAN DO IT. This can ONLY be the voice of the ego.
T 7 E 8. Truth can only be RECOGNIZED, and NEED only be recognized. Inspiration is of the Spirit, and certainty is of God
according to His laws. Both therefore come from the same Source, because inspiration comes from the voice FOR God and certainty
comes from the laws OF God. Healing does not come DIRECTLY from God, who knows His Creations as perfectly whole. But
healing is nevertheless OF God, because it proceeds from His Voice and from His laws. It is their RESULT in a state of mind which
does not know Him. The STATE is unknown to Him, and therefore does not exist. But those who sleep are stupefied, or better,
UNAWARE. And BECAUSE they are unaware THEY DO NOT KNOW.
T 7 E 9. The Holy Spirit must work THROUGH you to teach you He is IN you. This is an intermediary step toward the knowledge
that YOU are in God BECAUSE YOU ARE PART OF HIM. The miracles which the Holy Spirit inspires CAN have no order,
because every part of Creation IS of one order. This is God's will AND yours.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(316) C 143
The laws of God ESTABLISH this, and the Holy Spirit reminds you OF it. When you heal, you are REMEMBERING THE LAWS
OF GOD and FORGETTING the laws of the ego. We said before that forgetting is merely a way of REMEMBERING BETTER. It
is therefore NOT the opposite of remembering, when it is properly conceived. Perceived Improperly, it induces a perception of
CONFLICT WITH SOMETHING ELSE, as all incorrect perception does. PROPERLY perceived, it can be used as a way OUT of
conflict, as all proper perception can.
T 7 E 10. ALL abilities, then should be given over to the Holy Spirit, WHO KNOWS HOW TO USE THEM PROPERLY. He can
use them ONLY for healing, because He knows you ONLY as whole. BY healing you learn of wholeness, and by learning of
wholeness you learn to remember God. You HAVE forgotten Him, but the Holy Spirit still knows that YOUR forgetting MUST be
translated into a way of remembering, and NOT perceived as a SEPARATE ability which OPPOSES AN OPPOSITE. This is the
way in which the ego tries to use ALL abilities, because its goal is ALWAYS to make YOU believe that YOU are in opposition.
T 7 E 11. The ego's goal is as unified as the Holy Spirit's, and it is BECAUSE of this that their goals can NEVER be reconciled in
ANY way or to ANY extent. The ego ALWAYS seeks to divide and separate. The Holy Spirit ALWAYS seeks to unify and HEAL.
As you heal, you ARE healed because the Holy Spirit sees NO ORDER OF HEALING. Healing IS the way to undo the belief in
differences, because it is the ONLY way of perceiving the Sonship WITHOUT this belief. This perception is therefore IN accord
with the laws of God even in a state of mind which is OUT of accord with His.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(317) C 144
But the strength of right perception is so great that it brings the mind INTO accord with His, because it yields to His pull which IS
in all of you.
T 7 E 12. To oppose the pull or the will of God is not an ability but a real delusion. The ego believes that it HAS this ability, and can
offer this ability to YOU as a gift. YOU DO NOT WANT IT. It is NOT a gift. It is NOTHING AT ALL. God HAS given you a gift,
which you both HAVE and ARE. When you do not USE it, you do not know you HAVE it. By not knowing this, you do NOT know
what you ARE. Healing, then, is a way of APPROACHING knowledge by THINKING in accordance with the laws of God and
RECOGNIZING THEIR UNIVERSALITY. WITHOUT this recognition, you have made the laws themselves meaningless TO you.
But the LAWS are not meaningless, because all meaning is contained BY them, and IN them.
T 7 E 13. Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of Heaven, because that is where the laws of God operate truly, and they can operate ONLY
truly, because they are the laws of Truth. But SEEK THIS ONLY, because you can FIND nothing else. There IS nothing else. God
is all in all in a very literal sense. All being is in Him because He IS all Being. YOU are therefore in Him because YOUR being IS
His. Healing is a way of FORGETTING the sense of danger that the ego has induced in YOU by not recognizing its existence in
your brothers. This strengthens the Holy Spirit in BOTH of you, because it is a REFUSAL TO ACKNOWLEDGE FEAR. Love
needs only this invitation. It comes freely to ALL the Sonship, because it is what the Sonship IS.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(318) C 145
By their awakening TO it, they merely forget what they are NOT. This enables them to remember what they ARE.
T 7 F. Healing and the Changelessness of Mind (*N 707 7:39)
T 7 F 1. The body is nothing more than a framework for developing abilities. It is therefore a means for developing potentials,
which is quite apart from what the potential is used FOR. This IS a decision. The effects of the ego's decision in this matter are so
apparent that they need no elaboration here. But the Holy Spirit's decision to use the body ONLY for communication has such
direct connection with healing that it DOES need clarification. The unhealed healer OBVIOUSLY does not understand his own
vocation.
T 7 F 2. ONLY minds communicate. Since the ego CANNOT obliterate the impulse to communicate because it is also the impulse
to CREATE it can only try to teach you that the BODY can both communicate AND create, and therefore DOES NOT NEED THE
MIND. The ego, then, tries to teach you that the body can ACT like the mind, and therefore IS self-sufficient. But we have learned
that behavior is NOT the level for either teaching OR learning. This must be so, because you CAN act in accordance with what you
do NOT believe. But this will weaken you as teachers AND learners because, as has been repeatedly emphasized, you teach what
you DO believe. An inconsistent lesson WILL be poorly taught AND POORLY LEARNED. If you teach both sickness AND
healing, you are both a poor teacher and a poor learner.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(319) C 146
T 7 F 3. Healing is the one ability that everyone CAN develop, and MUST develop, if he is to BE healed. Healing IS the Holy
Spirit's form of communication, and THE ONLY ONE HE KNOWS. He recognizes no other, because he does NOT accept the
ego's confusion of mind and body. Minds CAN communicate, but they CANNOT hurt. The body in the service of the ego can hurt
other BODIES, but this CANNOT occur UNLESS the body has ALREADY been confused WITH the mind. This fact, too, can be
used either for healing or for magic, but you must realize that magic is ALWAYS the belief that healing is HARMFUL. This is its
totally insane premise, and so it proceeds accordingly.
T 7 F 4. Healing ONLY STRENGTHENS. Magic always tries to weaken. Healing perceives NOTHING in the healer that everyone
else does not share WITH him. Magic ALWAYS sees something special in the healer, which he believes he can offer as a gift to
someone who does NOT have it. He may believe that this gift comes from God TO him, but it is quite evident that he does NOT
understand God if he thinks HE has something that others DO NOT. You might well ask why SOME healing CAN result from this
kind of thinking, and there is a real reason for this.
T 7 F 5. However misguided the "magical healer" may be, and however much he may be trying to strengthen his ego, HE IS ALSO
TRYING TO HELP. He IS conflicted and unstable, but AT TIMES he is offering SOMETHING to the Sonship, and the ONLY
thing the Sonship can ACCEPT IS healing. When the so-called healing "works," then, the impulse both to help and BE helped have
coincided. This is co-incidental, because the healer may NOT be experiencing HIMSELF as truly helpful at the time, and the belief
that he IS, in the mind of ANOTHER, HELPS HIM.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(320) C 147
T 7 F 6. The Holy Spirit does NOT work by chance, and the healing that is of Him ALWAYS works. And unless the healer
ALWAYS heals BY Him, the results WILL vary. But healing itself IS consistence, because ONLY consistence is conflict-free, and
only the conflict-free ARE whole. By accepting exceptions, and acknowledging that he can SOMETIMES heal and SOMETIMES
not, the healer is OBVIOUSLY accepting INconsistency. He is therefore IN conflict and TEACHING conflict.
T 7 F 7. Can ANYTHING of God NOT be for all and always? Love is incapable of ANY exceptions. Only if there is fear does the
whole IDEA of exceptions of any kind seem to be meaningful. Exceptions ARE fearful because they were made BY fear. The
"fearful healer" is a contradiction in terms, and is therefore a concept that ONLY a conflicted mind could POSSIBLY perceive as
meaningful. Fear does NOT gladden. Healing DOES. Fear ALWAYS makes exceptions. Healing NEVER does. Fear produces
dissociation because it induces SEPARATION. Healing always induces harmony because it proceeds from integration.
T 7 F 8. Healing is predictable BECAUSE it can be counted on. EVERYTHING that is of God can be counted on, because
everything of God is WHOLLY REAL. HEALING can be counted on BECAUSE it is inspired by His voice, and is in accord with
His laws. But if healing IS consistence, it CANNOT be inconsistently understood. Understanding MEANS consistence, because
GOD means consistence. And because that IS His Meaning, it is also YOURS. YOUR meaning CANNOT be out of accord with
His, because your whole meaning, and your ONLY meaning, comes FROM His and is LIKE His. God CANNOT be out of accord
with HIMSELF, and YOU cannot be out of accord with Him. You cannot separate your self from YOUR Creator, who created YOU
by sharing HIS Being WITH you.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(321) C 148
T 7 F 9. The unhealed healer wants gratitude FROM his brothers, but he is NOT grateful to them. This is because he thinks he is
giving something TO them, and is NOT receiving something equally desirable in return. His TEACHING is limited because he is
LEARNING so little. His HEALING lesson is limited by his own ingratitude, which is a lesson in SICKNESS. Learning is constant
and so vital in its power for change that a Son of God can recognize his power in an instant, and change the world in the next. That
is because by changing HIS mind he has changed the most powerful device that was ever created FOR change.
T 7 F 10. This in no way contradicts the changelessness of mind as GOD created it. But YOU think that you HAVE changed it, as
long as you learn through the ego. This DOES place you in a position of needing to learn a lesson which SEEMS contradictory: you
must learn to change your mind ABOUT your mind. Only by this can you learn that it IS changeless.
T 7 F 11. When you heal, that is exactly what you ARE learning (doing). You are recognizing the changeless mind in your brother
by perceiving (knowing) that he could NOT have changed his mind. That is how you perceive the Holy Spirit in him. It is ONLY
the Holy Spirit in him that never changes His mind. He himself must think he CAN, or he would not perceive himself as sick. He
therefore does not know what his self IS. If YOU see only the changeless in him, you have not really changed him at all. But by
changing your mind about HIS FOR him, you help him undo the change his ego thinks it has made in him. As you can hear two
voices, so you can see in two ways. One way shows you an image, or better, an idol which you may worship out of fear, but which
you will never love. The other shows you only truth, which you will love because you will UNDERSTAND it. Understanding is
APPRECIATION, because what you understand you can identify WITH, and by making it part of YOU you have accepted it with
love.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(322) C 149
This is how God Himself created YOU, in understanding, in appreciation, and in love.
T 7 F 12. The ego is totally unable to understand this, because it does NOT understand what it makes. It does NOT appreciate it, and
it does NOT love it. It incorporates to TAKE AWAY. It literally believes that every time it deprives someone of something IT has
increased. We have spoken often of the INCREASE of the Kingdom by YOUR creations, which can only BE created as YOU were.
T 7 F 13. The whole glory and perfect joy that IS the Kingdom lies in you to give. Do you not WANT to give it? You CANNOT
forget the Father because I am with you and I CANNOT forget Him. To forget ME is to forget yourself and Him who created you.
Our brothers ARE forgetful. That is why they need your remembrance of Me and Him who created Me. Through this remembrance
you can change THEIR minds about themselves, as I can change YOURS. Your minds are so powerful a light that you can look into
theirs and enlighten them, as I can enlighten yours.
T 7 F 14. I do not want to share my BODY in communion because this is to share nothing. Would I try to share an illusion with the
most holy children of a most Holy Father? But I do want to share my MIND with you because we ARE of one Mind, and that Mind
IS ours. See ONLY this Mind everywhere, because only this IS everywhere and in everything. It IS everything, because it
encompasses all things within ITSELF. Blessed are you who perceive only this, because you perceive only what is true. Come
therefore unto me and learn of the truth in YOU.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(323) C 150
T 7 F 15. The mind WE share IS shared by all our brothers, and as we see them truly, they WILL be healed. Let YOUR minds shine
with mine upon their minds, and by our gratitude to them make THEM aware of the light in them. This light will shine back upon
YOU and on the whole Sonship because this IS your proper gift to God. He will accept it and give it to the Sonship, because it is
acceptable to Him, and therefore to His Sons. This is the true communion of the Spirit Who sees the altar of God in everyone, and
by bringing it to YOUR appreciation calls upon you to love God and His Creation.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(324) C 151
T 7 G. From Vigilance to Peace (*N 720 7:52)
T 7 G 1. You can think of the Sonship ONLY as one. This is part of the law of Creation, and therefore governs ALL thought. You
can PERCEIVE the Sonship as fragmented, but it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to see something in part of it that you will not attribute
to all of it. That is why attack is NEVER discrete. And why attack MUST be relinquished entirely. If it is NOT relinquished
entirely, it is not relinquished at all. Fear and love are equally reciprocal. They make or create depending on whether the ego or the
Holy Spirit begets or inspires them, but they WILL return to the mind of the thinker, and they WILL affect his total perception. That
includes his perception of God, of His Creations, and of his own. He will not appreciate ANY of these if he regards them fearfully.
He will appreciate ALL of them if he regards them with love.
T 7 G 2. The mind that accepts attack CANNOT love. This is because it believes that it can DESTROY love, and therefore does not
understand what love IS. If it does not understand what love IS, it CANNOT perceive itself as loving. This loses the awareness of
being; induces feelings of unreality; and results in utter confusion. Your own thinking has done this, because of its power. But your
own thinking can also save you FROM this, because its power is not of your making. Your ability to DIRECT your thinking as you
will IS part of its power. If you do not believe you can do this, you have DENIED the power of your thought, and thus rendered it
powerLESS in your belief.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(325) C 152
T 7 G 3. The ingeniousness of the ego to preserve itself is enormous, but it stems from the power of the mind WHICH THE EGO
DENIES. This means that the ego attacks WHAT IS PRESERVING IT, and this MUST be a source of extreme anxiety. This is why
it NEVER knows what it is doing. This is perfectly logical, though clearly insane. The ego draws upon the one source which is
totally inimical to its existence FOR its existence. Fearful of perceiving the POWER of this source, it is forced to DEPRECIATE
it. This threatens its OWN existence, a state which it finds intolerable.
T 7 G 4. Remaining logical but still insane, the ego resolves this completely insane dilemma in a completely insane way. It does not
perceive ITS existence as threatened, by projecting the threat onto YOU, and perceiving your BEING as NONexistent. This ensures
ITS continuance, if you side WITH it, by guaranteeing that you will NOT know your OWN safety. The ego CANNOT AFFORD
TO KNOW ANYTHING. Knowledge is total, and the ego DOES NOT BELIEVE IN TOTALITY. This unbelief is its own origin,
and while the ego does not love YOU, it IS faithful to its own antecedent, begetting as it was begotten.
T 7 G 5. Mind ALWAYS REproduces as it was produced. Produced by fear, the ego REproduces fear. This IS its allegiance, and
this allegiance makes it treacherous to love BECAUSE you are love. Love IS your power, which the ego MUST deny. It must also
deny everything which this power gives TO you, BECAUSE it gives you everything. No-one who has everything WANTS the ego.
Its own maker, then, DOES NOT WANT IT. Rejection is therefore the only decision which the ego could POSSIBLY encounter if
the mind which made it knew ITSELF. And if it recognized ANY part of the Sonship, it WOULD know itself.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(326) C 153
T 7 G 6. The ego therefore opposes ALL appreciation, ALL recognition, ALL sane perception, and ALL knowledge. It perceives
their threat as total because it senses the fact that all commitments which the mind makes ARE total. Forced therefore to detach
itself from you who ARE mind, it is willing to attach itself to anything ELSE. But there IS nothing else. It does NOT follow,
however, that the mind cannot make illusions. But it DOES follow that if it makes illusions it will BELIEVE in them, because
THAT IS HOW IT MADE THEM.
T 7 G 7. The Holy Spirit undoes illusions without attacking them merely because He cannot perceive them at all. They therefore do
not exist for Him. He resolves the APPARENT conflict which they engender by perceiving CONFLICT as meaningless. We said
before that the Holy Spirit perceives the conflict EXACTLY AS IT IS, and it IS meaningless. The Holy Spirit does not want you to
UNDERSTAND conflict. He wants you to realize that BECAUSE conflict is meaningLESS it cannot BE understood. WE have
already said that understanding brings appreciation, and appreciation brings love. Nothing else CAN be understood because nothing
else is real and therefore nothing else HAS meaning.
T 7 G 8. If you will keep in mind what the Holy Spirit offers you, you cannot be vigilant for anything BUT God and His Kingdom.
The ONLY reason why you find this difficult is because you think there IS something else. Belief does not require vigilance
UNLESS it is conflicted. If it IS, there ARE conflicting components within it which have engendered a state of war, and vigilance
has therefore BECOME essential. Vigilance has no place at all in peace. It is necessary ONLY AGAINST beliefs which are NOT
true, and would never have been called upon by the Holy Spirit if you had not believed the untrue yourselves.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(327) C 154
T 7 G 9. But you CANNOT deny that when you BELIEVE something you HAVE made it true FOR YOU. When YOU believe
what God DOES NOT KNOW, your thought seems to CONTRADICT His, and this makes it appear AS IF YOU ARE
ATTACKING HIM. We have repeatedly emphasized that the ego DOES believe it can attack God, and tries to persuade you that
YOU have done this. If the mind CANNOT attack, the ego proceeds perfectly logically to the position that YOU cannot be mind.
By not seeing you as YOU are, it can see ITSELF as it WANTS to be. Aware of its weakness, the ego wants your allegiance, but
NOT as you really are. The ego therefore wants to engage your mind in its OWN delusional system, because otherwise the light of
YOUR understanding WILL dispel it.
T 7 G 10. The ego wants no part of truth, because the truth is that IT is not true. If truth is total, the UNtrue CANNOT exist.
Commitment to either MUST be total, because they cannot co-exist in your minds WITHOUT splitting them. If they cannot coexist
in peace, and if you WANT peace, you MUST give up the IDEA of conflict ENTIRELY, and for ALL TIME. This requires
vigilance ONLY as long as YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE WHAT IS TRUE. While you believe that two totally contradictory
thought systems SHARE truth, your need for vigilance is apparent. Your minds ARE dividing their allegiance between two
kingdoms, and YOU are totally committed to neither.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(328) C 155
T 7 G 11. Your identification with the Kingdom is totally beyond question except by you WHEN YOU ARE THINKING
INSANELY. What you are is NOT established by your perception, and is NOT influenced BY it at all. ALL perceived problems in
identification at ANY level ARE NOT PROBLEMS OF FACT. But they ARE problems in UNDERSTANDING, because they
MEAN that you perceive WHAT you can understand as UP TO YOU TO DECIDE. The ego believes THIS totally, being fully
committed TO it. But it is NOT TRUE. The ego is therefore totally committed to UNtruth, perceiving in total contradiction to the
Holy Spirit and to the knowledge of God.
T 7 G 12. You can be perceived with meaning ONLY by the Holy Spirit, because your being IS the knowledge of God. ANY belief
that you accept which is APART from this WILL obscure God's voice in you, and will therefore obscure God TO you. Unless you
perceive His Creation truly, you CANNOT know the Creator, because God and His Creation ARE NOT SEPARATE. The Oneness
of the Creator and the Creation IS your wholeness, your sanity, and your limitless power. This limitless power is God's gift to you,
because it is WHAT YOU ARE. If you dissociate your mind FROM it, you are perceiving the most powerful force in the universe
of thought AS IF it were weak, because you do NOT believe YOU are part of it.
T 7 G 13. Perceived WITHOUT your part IN it, God's Creation IS perceived as weak, and those who SEE themselves as weakened
DO attack. The attack MUST be blind, because there is nothing TO attack. Therefore, they make up images, perceive them as
unworthy, and attack them for their unworthiness. That is all the world of the ego is. NOTHING. It has no meaning. It does not
exist. Do not TRY to understand it, because if you do you are believing that it CAN be understood, and therefore is capable of being
appreciated and loved. This WOULD justify it, but it CANNOT BE justified. YOU cannot make the meaningLESS meaningFUL.
This can ONLY be an insane attempt.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(329) 156
T 7 G 14. Allowing INsanity to enter your minds means that you have not judged sanity AS WHOLLY DESIRABLE. If you
WANT something else, you WILL MAKE something else. But because it IS something else it WILL attack your thought system
and divide your allegiance. You CANNOT create in this divided state, and you MUST be vigilant AGAINST this divided state
because ONLY peace CAN BE extended. Your divided minds ARE blocking the extension of the Kingdom, and its extension IS
your joy. If you do not extend the Kingdom, you are NOT thinking with your Creator and creating as He created.
T 7 G 15. In this depressing state, the Holy Spirit reminds you gently that you are sad because you are not fulfilling your function as
co-creators WITH God, and are therefore depriving YOURSELVES of joy. This is not God's will, but YOURS. If your will is out
of accord with God's, YOU ARE WILLING WITHOUT MEANING. But because ONLY God's will is unchangeable, no REAL
conflict of will is possible. This is the Holy Spirit's perfectly consistent teaching. Creation, not separation, IS your will BECAUSE
it is God's. And nothing that opposes this means anything at all. Being a perfect Accomplishment, the Sonship can only accomplish
perfectly, EXTENDING the joy in which it was created, and identifying itself with both its Creator and its creations, KNOWING
they are One.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(330) C 157
T 7 H. The Total Commitment (missing from Notes)
T 7 H 1. Whenever you deny a blessing to a brother, YOU will feel deprived. This is because denial is as total as love. It is as
impossible to deny part of the Sonship as it is to love it in part. Nor is it possible to love it totally AT TIMES. You CANNOT be
totally committed SOMETIMES. Remember a very early lesson, -- "never underestimate the power of denial." It has no power in
ITSELF, but YOU can give it the power of YOUR mind, whose power is without limit of ANY kind. If you use it to deny reality,
reality is gone FOR YOU. REALITY CANNOT BE PARTLY APPRECIATED. That is why denying any part of it means you have
lost awareness of ALL of it.
T 7 H 2. That is the negative side of the law as it operates in this world. But denial is a defense, and so it is as capable of being used
positively as it is of being used destructively. Used negatively, it WILL be destructive, because it will be used for attack. But in the
service of the Holy Spirit, the law becomes as beneficent as all of the laws of God. Stated positively, the law requires you only to
recognize PART of reality to appreciate ALL of it. Mind is too powerful to be subject to exclusion. You will NEVER be able to
exclude yourself from what you project.
T 7 H 3. When a brother acts insanely, he is offering you an opportunity to bless him. His need is YOURS. YOU need the blessing
you can offer him. There is no way for you to have it EXCEPT by giving it. This IS the law of God, and it HAS NO EXCEPTIONS.
What you deny you LACK, not because it IS lacking, but because you have denied it in another, and therefore are not aware of it in
YOU. Every response you make is determined by what you think you ARE. And what you WANT to be IS what you think you are.
Therefore, what you WANT to be determines every response you make.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(331) C 158
T 7 H 4. You do NOT need God's blessing, because that you have forever. But you DO need YOURS. The picture you see of
yourselves is deprived, unloving, and very vulnerable. You CANNOT love this. But you can very easily escape FROM it, or better,
leave it behind. You are NOT there, and that is not YOU. Do not see this picture in anyone, or you HAVE accepted it as you. ALL
illusions about the Sonship are DISPELLED together, as they were MADE together. Teach no-one that HE is what YOU do not
want to be. Your brother is the mirror in which you will see the image of yourself as long as perception lasts. And perception WILL
last until the Sonship knows itself as whole.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(332) C 159
T 7 H 5. You MADE perception, and it MUST last as long as you WANT it. Illusions are investments. They will last as long as you
value them. Values are relative, but they are powerful because they are MENTAL judgments. The only way to dispel illusions is to
withdraw ALL investment from them, and they will HAVE no life for you because you have put them OUT OF YOUR MIND.
While you include them IN it, you are GIVING them life. Except there is nothing there to receive your gift.
T 7 H 6. The gift of life IS yours to give, because it was given YOU. You are unaware of YOUR gift BECAUSE you do not give it.
You CANNOT make nothing live, because it cannot BE enlivened. Therefore, you have NOT extended the gift you both have and
are, and so you do NOT know your being. All confusion comes from not extending life, because this is NOT the will of your
Creator. You CAN do nothing apart from Him, and you DO do nothing apart from him. Keep His Way to remember yourselves, and
teach His Ways lest you forget yourself. Give only honor to the sons of the living God, and count yourself among them gladly.
T 7 H 7. ONLY honor is a fitting gift for those whom God Himself created worthy of honor and whom He honors. Give them the
appreciation which God accords them always, because they are His Beloved Sons in whom He is well pleased. You CANNOT be
apart from them, because you are not apart from Him. Rest in His love, and protect your rest by loving. But love EVERYTHING He
created, of which YOU are part, or you cannot learn of His peace and accept His gift for yourself and as yourself.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(333) C 160
You CANNOT know your own perfection until you have honored all those who were created LIKE you.
T 7 H 8. One Child of God is the only teacher sufficiently worthy to teach another. One Teacher is in all your minds, and He teaches
the same lesson to all. He always teaches you the inestimable worth of EVERY Son of God, teaching it with infinite patience born
of the Love of Him for whom He speaks. Every attack is a call for His patience, because ONLY His patience can translate attack
into blessing. Those who attack DO NOT KNOW THEY ARE BLESSED. They attack BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE THEY ARE
DEPRIVED. Give therefore of YOUR abundance, and teach them THEIRS. Do not share their delusions of scarcity, or you will
perceive YOURSELF as lacking.
T 7 H 9. Attack could never PROMOTE attack unless you perceived it as a means of depriving you of SOMETHING YOU WANT.
But you cannot lose ANYTHING unless YOU do not value it and therefore DO NOT WANT IT. This makes you feel DEPRIVED
of it, and by projecting YOUR rejection, you believe that others are TAKING IT FROM YOU. One MUST be fearful if he believes
that his brother is attacking him to tear the Kingdom of Heaven from him.
T 7 H 10. This is the ultimate basis for ALL of the ego's projection. Being the part of your mind which does NOT believe it is
responsible for ITSELF, and being without allegiance to God, it is incapable of trust. Projecting its insane belief that YOU have
been treacherous to YOUR Creator, it believes that your brothers, who are as incapable of this as you are, are out to TAKE GOD
FROM YOU.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(334) C 161
Whenever a brother attacks another, THIS IS WHAT HE BELIEVES. Projection ALWAYS sees YOUR will in others. If you will
to separate YOURSELF from God, that is what you will think others are doing TO you.
T 7 H 11. You ARE the will of God. Do not accept anything else AS YOUR will, or you ARE denying what you are. Deny THIS
and you WILL attack, because you believe you have BEEN attacked. But see the love of God in you, and you will see it everywhere
because it IS everywhere. See His abundance in everyone, and you will know that you are in Him WITH them. They are part of you
as you are part of God. YOU are as lonely without understanding this as God Himself is lonely when His Sons do not know Him.
The peace of God IS understanding this.
T 7 H 12. There is only one way out of the world's thinking, just as there was only one way INTO it. Understand totally by
understanding TOTALITY. Perceive ANY part of the ego's thought system as wholly insane, wholly delusional, and wholly
undesirable, and you have CORRECTLY EVALUATED ALL OF IT. This correction enables you to perceive ANY part of Creation
as wholly real, wholly perfect, and WHOLLY DESIRABLE. Wanting this ONLY, you will HAVE this only, and giving this only,
you will BE only this. The gifts you offer to the ego are ALWAYS experienced as sacrifices. But the gifts you offer to the Kingdom
are gifts to YOU. They will always be treasured by God, because they belong to His Beloved Sons who belong to Him. All power
and glory are yours because the Kingdom is His.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(335) C 162
T 7 I. The Defense of Conflict (*N 733 7:65)
T 7 I 1. We once said that without projection there can be no anger, but it is also true that without projection there can be no love.
Projection is a fundamental law of the mind, and therefore one which ALWAYS operates. It is the law by which you create and
were created. It is the law which unifies the Kingdom and keeps it in the mind of God. To the ego, the law is perceived as a way of
getting RID of something it does NOT want. To the Holy Spirit, it is the fundamental law of sharing, by which you give what you
value in order to keep it in your OWN minds.
T 7 I 2. Projection to the Holy Spirit is the law of extension. To the ego, it is the law of deprivation. It therefore produces abundance
or scarcity, depending on how you choose to apply it. This choice IS up to you, but it is NOT up to you to decide whether or not you
will UTILIZE projection. Every mind MUST project, because that is how it lives, and every mind IS life. The ego's use of
projection must be fully understood before the INEVITABLE association between projection and anger can be finally UNmade.
T 7 I 3. The ego ALWAYS tries to preserve conflict. It is very ingenious in devising ways which SEEM to diminish conflict only
because it does NOT want you to find it so intolerable that you will INSIST on giving it up. Therefore, it tries to persuade you that
IT can free you OF conflict, lest you give IT up and free YOURSELF. The ego, using its own warped version of the laws of God,
uses the power of the mind ONLY to defeat the mind's real purpose. It projects conflict FROM your mind to OTHER minds, in an
attempt to persuade you that you have gotten RID of it. This has a number of fallacies which may not be so apparent.
T 7 I 4. Strictly speaking, conflict cannot BE projected, precisely BECAUSE it cannot be fully shared. Any attempt to keep PART
of it and get rid of ANOTHER part does not really mean ANYTHING. Remember that a conflicted teacher is a poor teacher AND A
POOR LEARNER. His lessons are confused, and their transfer value severely limited BY his confusion.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(336) C 163
T 7 I 5. A second fallacy is the idea that you can GET RID of something you do not want BY giving it away. GIVING it is how you
KEEP it. The belief that by giving it OUT you have excluded from WITHIN is a complete distortion of the power of EXTENSION.
T 7 I 6. That is why those who project from the ego are vigilant for their OWN safety. THEY ARE AFRAID THAT THEIR
PROJECTIONS WILL RETURN AND HURT THEM. They DO believe they have blotted them out of their OWN minds, but they
also believe they are trying to creep back INTO them. This is because their projections have NOT left their minds, and this, in turn,
forces them to engage in compulsive activity in order NOT to recognize this.
T 7 I 7. You cannot perpetuate an illusion about another WITHOUT perpetuating it about yourself. There is no way out of this,
because it is IMPOSSIBLE to fragment the mind. To fragment is to break into pieces, and mind CANNOT attack. The belief that it
CAN, a fallacy which the ego ALWAYS makes, underlies its whole use of projection. This is because it does not understand what
the mind IS, and therefore does not understand what YOU are. Yet ITS existence IS dependent on your mind, because it is a
BELIEF. The ego IS therefore a confusion in identification, which never had a consistent model, and never developed consistently.
It is the distorted product of the misapplication of the laws of God by distorted minds which are misusing their own power.
T 7 I 8. DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THE EGO. It DOES depend on your mind, and as you made it by believing in it, so you can
dispel it by withdrawing belief FROM it. Do NOT project the responsibility for your belief in it onto ANYONE else, or you will
PRESERVE the belief. When you are willing to accept sole responsibility for the ego's existence YOURSELF, you will have laid
aside all anger and all attack, because they COME from an attempt to PROJECT RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ERRORS.
But having ACCEPTED the error
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(337) C 164
as yours, DO NOT KEEP THEM. Give them over quickly to the Holy Spirit to be undone completely, so that ALL their effects will
vanish from your minds and from the Sonship AS A WHOLE. He will teach you to perceive BEYOND belief, because truth IS
beyond belief and His perception IS true.
T 7 I 9. The ego can be completely forgotten at ANY time, because it was always a belief that is totally incredible. No-one can
KEEP a belief he has judged to be unbelievable. The more you learn ABOUT the ego, the more you realize that it cannot BE
believed. The incredible cannot BE understood because it IS unbelievable. The utter meaninglessness of ALL perception which
comes from the unbelievable MUST be apparent, but it is NOT beyond belief because it was made BY belief.
T 7 I 10. The whole purpose of this course is to teach you that the ego is unbelievable and will forever BE unbelievable. You who
made the ego by BELIEVING the unbelievable CANNOT make this judgment alone. By accepting the Atonement for YOURSELF,
you are deciding AGAINST the belief that you can BE alone, thus dispelling the idea of separation and affirming your true
identification with the whole Kingdom as literally PART OF YOU. This identification is as beyond doubt as it is beyond belief.
Your wholeness HAS no limits, because its being is in Infinity.
T 7 J. The Extension of the Kingdom (*N 738 7:70)
T 7 J 1. Only you can limit your creative power, but God wills to release it. He no more wills you to deprive yourselves of YOUR
creations than He wills to deprive Himself of His.
T 7 J 2. Do not withhold your gifts to the Sonship, or you withhold yourself from God. Selfishness is of the ego but self-fullness is of
the Soul because that is how He created it. The Holy Spirit is the part of the mind that lies between the ego and the Soul, mediating
between them ALWAYS IN FAVOR OF THE SOUL. To the ego this is partiality, and it therefore responds as if it were the part
that is being sided AGAINST.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(338) C 165
To the Soul this is truth, because it knows its own fullness and cannot conceive of ANY part from which it is excluded. The soul
KNOWS that the consciousness of all its brothers is included in its own, as IT is included in God. The power of the whole Sonship
AND OF ITS CREATOR is therefore its OWN fullness, rendering its Creation and its creating equally whole and equal in
perfection.
T 7 J 3. The ego cannot prevail against a totality which includes God, and any totality MUST include God. Everything He created is
given ALL His power because it is part of Him and shares His Being WITH Him. Creating is the OPPOSITE of loss, as blessing is
the opposite of sacrifice. Being MUST be extended. That is how it retains the knowledge of itSELF. The soul yearns to share ITS
Being as ITS Creator did. Created BY sharing, its will is to create. It does NOT wish to CONTAIN God, but to EXTEND HIS
BEING.
T 7 J 4. The extension of God's Being is the Soul's only function. ITS fullness cannot be contained any more than can the fullness of
its Creator. Fullness IS extension. The ego's whole thought system BLOCKS extension, and therefore blocks YOUR ONLY
FUNCTION. It therefore blocks your joy and THIS is why you perceive yourselves as unfulfilled. Unless you create, you ARE
unfulfilled. But God does NOT know unfulfillment, and therefore you MUST create. YOU may not know your own creations, but this
can no more interfere with their reality than your unawareness of your Soul can interfere with its being.
T 7 J 5. The Kingdom is forever extending, because it is in the Mind of God. You do not know your joy because you do not know
your own self-fullness. Exclude ANY part of the Kingdom FROM yourself, and you are NOT whole. A split mind CANNOT
perceive its fullness, and needs the miracle OF its wholeness to dawn upon it and heal it. This reawakens its wholeness IN it and
restores it to the Kingdom because of its ACCEPTANCE of wholeness. The full appreciation of its self-fullness makes selfishness
impossible, and extension inevitable.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(339) C 66
That is why there is perfect peace in the Kingdom. Every Soul IS fulfilling its function, and ONLY complete fulfillment IS peace.
T 7 J 6. Insanity APPEARS to add to reality, but no-one would claim that what it adds is true. Insanity is therefore the
NONextension of truth, which blocks joy because it blocks Creation and therefore blocks self-FULFILLMENT. The unfulfilled
MUST be depressed, because their self-fullness is UNKNOWN to them. Your creations are protected FOR you because the Holy
Spirit, Who is in your minds, knows of them, and can bring them INTO your awareness whenever you will let Him. They ARE
there as part of your own being, because YOUR fulfillment INCLUDES them. The creations of every Son of God are yours,
because every creation belongs to everyone, being created for the Sonship as a whole.
T 7 J 7. You have not failed to add to the inheritance of the Sons of God, and thus have not failed to secure it for yourselves. If it
was the will of God to give it to you, He gave it forever. If it was His will that you have it forever, He gave you the means for
keeping it, and YOU HAVE DONE SO. Disobeying God's will is meaningful only to the insane. In truth, it is impossible.
T 7 J 8. Your self-fullness is as boundless as God's. Like His, it extends forever and in perfect peace. Its radiance is so intense that it
creates in perfect joy, and only the whole can be born of its wholeness. Be confident that you have never lost your identity and the
extension which maintains it in wholeness and peace. Miracles are AN EXPRESSION OF THIS CONFIDENCE. They are
reflections both of your own proper identification WITH your brothers, and of your own awareness that YOUR identification IS
maintained by extension. The miracle is A LESSON IN TOTAL PERCEPTION. By including ANY part of totality in the lesson,
you HAVE included the whole.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(340) C 167
T 7 J 9. You have said that, when you write of the Kingdom and your own creations which belong to it, you are describing WHAT
YOU DO NOT KNOW. This is true in a sense, but no more true than your failure to acknowledge the whole result of the ego's
premises. The Kingdom is the result of premises, as much as this world is. You HAVE carried the ego's reasoning to its logical
conclusion, which is TOTAL CONFUSION ABOUT EVERYTHING. But you do not really BELIEVE this, or you could not
possibly maintain it. If you REALLY saw this result, you COULD not want it. The ONLY reason why you could possibly want
ANY part of it is because YOU DO NOT SEE THE WHOLE OF IT.
T 7 J 10. You therefore ARE willing to look at the ego's premises but NOT at their logical outcome. Is it not possible that you have
done the same thing with the premises of God? Your creations ARE the logical outcome of His premises. HIS thinking has
established them FOR you. They are therefore THERE, EXACTLY where they belong. They belong to your mind, as part of your
identification with HIS. But your state of mind and your recognition of WHAT IS IN YOUR MIND depends, at any given moment,
on what you believe ABOUT your mind. Whatever these beliefs may be, they are the premises which will determine WHAT YOU
ACCEPT INTO YOUR MINDS.
T 7 J 11. It is surely clear that you can both accept into your minds what is NOT really there, and DENY WHAT IS. Neither of
these possibilities requires further elaboration, although both are clearly indefensible even if YOU elect to defend them. But the
function which God Himself GAVE your minds through His you may DENY but you CANNOT prevent. They are the logical
outcome of what you ARE. The ability to SEE a logical outcome depends on the WILLINGNESS TO SEE IT, but its TRUTH has
nothing to do with your willingness at all. Truth is GOD's will. SHARE His Will, and you will share what He KNOWS. Deny His
Will AS YOURS, and you are denying His Kingdom AND yours.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(341) C 168
T 7 J 12. The Holy Spirit will direct you ONLY so as to avoid all pain. The UNDOING of pain must OBVIOUSLY avoid this. No-one
would surely OBJECT to this goal IF HE RECOGNIZED IT. The problem is NOT whether what He says is true, but whether or
not you want to LISTEN to what He says.
T 7 K. The Confusion of Strength and Weakness (*N 746 7:78)
T 7 K 1. You no more recognize what is painful than you know what is joyful, and are, in fact, very apt to confuse them. The Holy
Spirit's main function is to teach you to TELL THEM APART.
T 7 K 2. However strange it may seem that this is necessary, it obviously IS. The reason is equally obvious. What is joyful to you IS
painful to the ego, and as long as you are in doubt about what YOU are, you WILL be confused about joy and pain. This confusion
is the cause of the whole idea of sacrifice. Obey the Holy Spirit, and you WILL be giving up the ego, but you will be
SACRIFICING nothing. On the contrary, you will be gaining EVERYTHING. But if you BELIEVED this there would BE no
conflict. That is why you need to DEMONSTRATE THE OBVIOUS TO YOURSELF. It is NOT obvious to you.
T 7 K 3. You REALLY believe that doing the opposite of God's will CAN be better for you. You also believe that it is POSSIBLE
to do the opposite of God's will. Therefore, you believe that an impossible choice IS open to you, which is both very fearful and
very desirable. But God WILLS. He does NOT wish. YOUR will is as powerful as His because it IS His. The ego's wishes do not
mean anything, because the ego wishes for the impossible. You CAN wish for the impossible, but you can only WILL with God.
This is the ego's weakness and YOUR strength.
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T 7 K 4. The Holy Spirit ALWAYS sides with YOU and with your STRENGTH. As long as you avoid His guidance in any way,
you WANT TO BE WEAK. But weakness IS frightening. What else, then, can this decision mean except that you WANT to be
fearful? The Holy Spirit NEVER asks for sacrifice, but the ego ALWAYS does. When you are confused about this VERY clear
distinction in motivation, it CAN only be due to projection. Projection of this kind IS a confusion in motivation, and given THIS
confusion, TRUST becomes impossible.
T 7 K 5. No-one obeys gladly a guide he does not trust. But this does not mean that the GUIDE is untrustworthy. In this case, it
ALWAYS means that the FOLLOWER IS. However, this, too, is merely a matter of his own belief. Believing that HE can betray,
he believes that everything can betray HIM. But this is ONLY because he has ELECTED TO FOLLOW FALSE GUIDANCE.
Unable to follow THIS guidance WITHOUT fear, he associates fear WITH guidance, and refuses to follow ANY guidance at all. If
the result of this decision is confusion, this is hardly surprising.
T 7 K 6. The Holy Spirit is perfectly trustworthy, as YOU are. God Himself trusts you and therefore your trustworthiness IS beyond
question. It will always remain beyond question, however much you may question it. I trust MY choices ONLY because they ARE
God's Will. We said before that YOU are the will of God. His will is not an idle wish, and your identification WITH His Will is not
optional because it IS what you are. Sharing His will WITH me is not really open to choice at all, though it may SEEM to be. The
whole separation lies in this fallacy. And the ONLY way out of the fallacy is to decide that YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DECIDE
ANYTHING.
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T 7 K 7. Everything has been given you by GOD's decision. This IS His Will, and you can NOT undo it. Even the relinquishment
of your false decision-making prerogative, which the ego guards so jealously, is not accomplished by your wish. It was
accomplished FOR you by the Will of God, who has not left you comfortless. His Voice WILL teach you how to distinguish
between pain and joy, and lead you out of the confusion YOU have made. There IS no confusion in the mind of a Son of God,
whose will MUST be the will of the Father, because the Father's Will IS His Son.
T 7 K 8. Miracles are IN ACCORD with the Will of God, whose will you do NOT know because you are confused about what YOU
will. This MEANS that you are confused about what you are. If you ARE God's will and do NOT ACCEPT His will, you can
ONLY be not accepting what you are. But if your joy IS what you are, you ARE denying joy. The miracle therefore is a lesson in
WHAT JOY IS. Being a lesson in SHARING, it is a lesson in love, which IS joy. Every miracle is thus a lesson in Truth, and by
OFFERING truth YOU are learning the difference between pain and joy.
T 7 L. The State of Grace (*N 752 7:84)
T 7 L 1. The Holy Spirit will ALWAYS guide you truly, because YOUR joy IS His. This is His will for everyone, because He
speaks for the Kingdom of God which IS joy. Following Him is therefore the easiest thing in the world, and the only thing which IS
easy, because it is NOT of the world and is therefore NATURAL. The world goes AGAINST your nature, because it is out of
accord with God's laws. The world perceives orders of difficulty in EVERYTHING. This is because the ego perceives nothing as
wholly desirable. By DEMONSTRATING to yourselves that THERE IS NO ORDER OF DIFFICULTY IN MIRACLES, you will
convince yourselves that in your NATURAL state there IS no difficulty, because it is a state of Grace.
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T 7 L 2. Grace is the natural state of every Son of God. When he is NOT in a state of grace he IS out of his natural environment, and
does NOT function well. Everything he does becomes a strain, because he was not created for the environment which he has made.
He therefore CANNOT adapt to it, nor can he adapt IT to HIM. There is no point in trying. A Son of God is happy ONLY when he
knows he is WITH God. That is the only environment in which he will not experience strain, because that is where he belongs. It is
also the only environment that is worthy of him, because his own worth is beyond ANYTHING that he can make.
T 7 L 3. Consider the Kingdom which YOU have made, and judge its worth fairly. Is it worthy to be a home for a Child of God?
Does it protect his peace, and shine love upon him? Does it keep his heart untouched by fear, and allow him to give always without
any sense of loss? Does it teach him that this giving IS his joy, and that God Himself thanks him for his giving?
T 7 L 4. That is the only environment in which you can be happy. You cannot make it, any more than you can make yourselves. But
it has been created for you, as you were created for it. God watches over His children and denies them nothing. But when they deny
Him they do NOT know this, because THEY deny themselves everything. You who could give the love of God to everything you
see and touch and remember are literally denying Heaven to yourselves. I call upon you again to remember that I have chosen you
to teach the Kingdom TO the Kingdom. There are no exceptions to this lesson because the lack of exceptions IS the lesson.
T 7 L 5. Every Son who returns to the Kingdom with this lesson in his heart has healed the Sonship and given thanks to God.
Everyone who learns this lesson has become the perfect teacher, because he has learned it of the Holy Spirit, who wants to teach
him everything He knows. When a mind has only light, it KNOWS only light. Its own radiance shines all around it, and
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extends out into the darkness of other minds, transforming them into majesty. The majesty of God is there, for YOU to recognize
and appreciate and KNOW.
T 7 L 6. Perceiving the majesty of God AS your brother is to accept your OWN inheritance. God gives only equally. If you
recognize His gift to anyone ELSE, you have acknowledged what He has given YOU. Nothing is as easy to perceive as truth. This is
the perception which is immediate, clear, and natural. You have trained yourselves NOT to see it, and this HAS been very difficult
for you. OUT of your natural environment you may well ask, "what is truth?" because truth IS the environment by which and for
which you were created. You do not know yourselves because you do not know YOUR Creator. You do not know YOUR creations,
because you do not know your brothers who created them WITH you.
T 7 L 7. We said before that only the whole Sonship is a worthy co-creator with God, because only the whole Sonship can create
LIKE Him. Whenever you heal a brother by recognizing his worth, you are acknowledging HIS power to create and YOURS. HE
cannot have lost what YOU recognize, and you MUST have the glory you see in HIM. He is a co-creator with God with YOU.
Deny his creative power and you are denying yours AND THAT OF GOD WHO CREATED YOU. You cannot deny part of the
truth. You do not know your creations because you do not know their creator. You do not know yourselves because you do not
know YOURS.
T 7 L 8. Your creations cannot establish your reality, any more than YOU can establish God's. But you can KNOW both. Being is
known by sharing. Because God shared His Being with you, you can know Him. But you must also know all He created to know
what THEY have shared. Without your Father you will not know your fatherhood. The Kingdom of God includes all His Sons and
their children, who are like the Sons as they are like the Father. Know then the Sons of God, and you will know ALL Creation.
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CHAPTER 8 – THE JOURNEY BACK
T 8 A. Introduction (*N 758 7:90)
T 8 A 1. You are hampered in your progress by your demands to know what you do not know. This is actually a way of hanging on
to deprivation. You cannot reasonably object to following instructions in a course FOR knowing, on the grounds that you do not
know. The need for the course is implicit in your objection. Knowledge is not the motivation for learning this course. PEACE is. As
the PREREQUISITE for knowledge, peace MUST be learned. This is ONLY because those who are in conflict are not peaceful, and
peace is the CONDITION of knowledge because it is the condition of the Kingdom.
T 8 A 2. Knowledge will be restored when YOU meet its conditions. This is not a bargain made by God, who made no bargains at
all. It is merely the result of your misuse of His Laws on behalf of a will that was not His. Knowledge IS His Will. If you are
OPPOSING His Will, how CAN you have knowledge? I have told you what knowledge OFFERS you, but it is clear that you do
NOT regard this as wholly desirable. If you did, you would hardly be willing to throw it away so readily, when the ego asks for your
allegiance.
T 8 A 3. The distraction of the ego SEEMS to interfere with your learning, but it HAS no power to distract unless you GIVE it the
power. The ego's voice is an hallucination. You cannot expect the EGO to say "I am not real." Hallucinations ARE inaccurate
perceptions of reality. But you are NOT asked to dispel them alone. You are merely asked to evaluate them in terms of their results
TO YOU. If you DO NOT WANT THEM on the basis of LOSS OF PEACE, they will be removed from your mind FOR you. Every
response to the ego is a call to war, and war DOES deprive you of peace.
T 8 A 4. Yet in this war THERE IS NO OPPONENT. THIS is the re-interpretation of reality which you must make to secure peace,
and the ONLY one you need ever make.
T 8 B. The Direction of the Curriculum (*N 760 7:92)
T 8 B 1. Those whom you PERCEIVE as opponents are PART of your peace, which YOU are giving up by attacking them. How
can you have what YOU give up? You SHARE to have, but you do NOT give it up yourselves.
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When you GIVE UP peace, you are EXCLUDING yourself FROM it. This is a condition which is so ALIEN to the Kingdom that
you CANNOT understand the state which prevails WITHIN it.
T 8 B 2. Your past learning MUST have taught you the wrong things, simply because it has not made you happy. On this basis
alone, its value should be questioned. If learning aims at CHANGE, and that is ALWAYS its purpose, are you satisfied with the
changes YOURS has brought you? Dissatisfaction with the learning outcome MUST be a sign of learning failure, because it means
that you did NOT get what you WANT.
T 8 B 3. The curriculum of the Atonement IS the opposite of the curriculum you have established for yourselves, but SO IS ITS
OUTCOME. If the outcome of yours has made you unhappy, and if you WANT a different outcome, a change in the curriculum is
obviously necessary.
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T 8 B 4. The first change that MUST be introduced is a change in DIRECTION. A meaningful curriculum CANNOT be
inconsistent. If it is planned by two teachers, each believing in diametrically opposed ideas, it CANNOT be integrated. If it is
carried out by these two teachers simultaneously, EACH ONE MERELY INTERFERES WITH THE OTHER. This leads to
fluctuation, but NOT to change. The volatile HAVE no direction. They cannot choose one, because they CANNOT relinquish the
others EVEN IF THE OTHERS DO NOT EXIST. Their conflicted curriculum teaches them that ALL directions exist, and gives
them no RATIONALE for choice.
T 8 B 5. The total senselessness of such a curriculum must be fully recognized before a real change in direction becomes possible.
You CANNOT learn simultaneously from two teachers who are in TOTAL DISAGREEMENT ABOUT EVERYTHING. Their
joint curriculum presents an IMPOSSIBLE learning task. They are teaching you ENTIRELY different things in ENTIRELY
different ways, which would be possible except for the crucial fact that both are teaching you about YOURSELF. Your REALITY
is unaffected by both. But if you LISTEN to both, your mind will split on WHAT YOUR REALITY IS.
T 8 C. The Rationale for Choice (*N 762 7:94)
T 8 C 1. There IS a rationale for choice. Only ONE teacher KNOWS what your reality is. If learning that is the PURPOSE of the
curriculum, you MUST learn it of Him. The ego does NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS TRYING TO TEACH. It is trying to teach you
what you are WITHOUT KNOWING IT. The ego is expert ONLY in confusion. It does not understand ANYTHING ELSE. As a
teacher, then, it is totally confused and TOTALLY CONFUSING.
T 8 C 2. Even if you could disregard the Holy Spirit entirely, which is quite impossible, you could learn nothing from the ego,
because the ego KNOWS nothing. Is there ANY possible reason for choosing a teacher such as this? Does the TOTAL disregard of
ANYTHING it teaches make anything BUT sense? Is THIS the teacher to whom a Son of God should turn to find HIMSELF? The
ego has never given you a sensible answer to anything.
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Simply on the grounds of your own experience with the ego's teaching, should not this alone disqualify it as your future teacher?
T 8 C 3. But the ego has done more harm to your learning than this alone. Learning is joyful if it leads you along your natural path,
and facilitates the development of WHAT YOU HAVE. But when you are taught AGAINST your nature, you will lose by your
learning, because your learning will IMPRISON you. Your will is IN your nature, and therefore CANNOT go AGAINST it. The
ego cannot teach you anything as long as your will is free, because you WILL NOT LISTEN TO IT. It is NOT your will to be
imprisoned, BECAUSE your will is free.
T 8 C 4. That is why the ego IS the denial of free will. It is NEVER God Who coerces you, because He SHARES His Will WITH
you. His voice teaches ONLY His Will, but that is not the Holy Spirit's lesson, because that is what you ARE. The LESSON is that
your will and God's CANNOT be out of accord because they ARE one. This is the UNdoing of EVERYTHING the ego tries to
teach. It is not, then, only the DIRECTION (of the curriculum?) which must be unconflicted, but also the CONTENT.
T 8 C 5. The ego wants to teach you that you want to OPPOSE God's Will. This unnatural lesson CANNOT be learned, but the
ATTEMPT to learn it is a violation of your own freedom, and makes you AFRAID of your will BECAUSE it is free. The Holy
Spirit opposes ANY imprisoning of the will of a Son of God, KNOWING that the will of the Son IS the Father's. He leads you
steadily along the path of freedom, teaching you how to disregard, or look beyond EVERYTHING that would hold you back.
T 8 C 6. We said before that the Holy Spirit teaches you the difference between pain and joy. That is the same as saying that He
teaches you the difference between imprisonment and freedom. YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS DISTINCTION WITHOUT HIM.
That is because you have taught YOURSELF that imprisonment IS freedom. Believing them to be the same, how can you tell them
apart? Can you ask the part of your mind that taught you to believe they ARE the same to teach you the DIFFERENCE?
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T 8 C 7. The Holy Spirit's teaching takes only one direction, and has only one goal. His direction is freedom, and His goal is God.
But He cannot conceive of God without YOU, because it was not God's Will to BE without you. When you have learned that your
will IS God's, you could no more will to be without Him than He could will to be without YOU. This IS freedom and this IS joy.
Deny YOURSELF this, and you ARE denying God His Kingdom, because He created you FOR this.
T 8 C 8. When we said, "all power and glory are yours because the Kingdom is His," this is what we meant: The Will of God is
without limit, and all power and glory lie within it. It is boundless in strength and in love and in peace. It has no boundaries because
its extension is unlimited, and it encompasses all things because it CREATED all things. By CREATING all things, it made them
PART OF ITSELF. YOU are the Will of God, because this is how you were created. Because your Creator creates only like
Himself, you ARE like Him.
T 8 C 9. You are part of Him who IS all power and glory, and are therefore as unlimited as He is. To what else EXCEPT all power
and glory can the Holy Spirit appeal to restore God's Kingdom? His appeal, then, is merely to what the Kingdom is, and for its own
acknowledgment of what it is. When you acknowledge THIS, you bring the acknowledgment automatically to everyone, because
YOU HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED EVERYONE. By your recognition you awaken theirs, and through theirs YOURS is extended.
Awakening runs easily and gladly through the Kingdom in answer to the call of God. This is the natural response of every Son of
God to the Voice of His Creator, because it is the voice for HIS creations and for his own extension.
T 8 D. The Holy Encounter (*N 768 7:100)
T 8 D 1. Glory be to God in the highest, and to you because He has so willed it. Ask and it shall be given you, because it has
already been given. Ask for light and learn that you are light. If you WANT understanding and enlightenment you will learn it,
because your will to learn it is your decision to listen to the Teacher who knows of light and can therefore
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TEACH IT TO YOU.
T 8 D 2. There is no limit on your learning, because there is no limit on your MINDS. There is no limit on His will to teach, because
He was created by unlimited Will in ORDER to teach. KNOWING His function perfectly, He wills to fulfill it perfectly, because
that is His joy AND YOURS. To fulfill the Will of God perfectly is the only joy and peace that can be fully KNOWN, because it is
the only function that can be FULLY EXPERIENCED. When this is accomplished, then, there IS no other experience. But the
WISH for other experience will block this, because God's Will CANNOT be forced upon you, being an experience of total
WILLINGNESS.
T 8 D 3. The Holy Spirit knows how to teach this, but YOU do not. That is why you need Him, and why God gave Him TO you.
Only HIS teaching will release your will to God's, uniting it with His power and glory, and establishing them as yours. You will
share them as He shares them, because this is the natural outcome of their being. The Will of the Father and of the Son are one
together BY THEIR EXTENSION. Their extension is the RESULT of their Oneness, holding THEIR unity by extending their
JOINT will.
T 8 D 4. This is perfect creation by the perfectly created in union with the Perfect Creator. The Father MUST give fatherhood to His
Sons, because His Own Fatherhood must be extended outward. You who belong in God have the holy function of extending His
Fatherhood by placing no limits upon it. Let the Holy Spirit teach you HOW to do this, for you will know what it MEANS of God
Himself.
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T 8 D 5. When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him, you will see yourself. As you treat him, you will
treat yourself. As you think of him, you will think of yourself. Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose sight of
yourself. Whenever two Sons of God meet they are given another chance at Salvation. Do not leave anyone without giving salvation
TO him and receiving it yourself. For I am always there WITH you, in remembrance of YOU.
T 8 D 6. The goal of the curriculum, regardless of the teacher you choose, is KNOW THYSELF. There is nothing else to learn.
Everyone is looking for himself and the power and glory he thinks he has lost. Whenever you are with anyone ELSE, you have
another opportunity to find them. Your power and glory are in HIM BECAUSE they are yours. The ego tries to find them in
YOURSELF, because he does not know where to look. But the Holy Spirit teaches you that if you look only at yourself you
CANNOT find yourself because that is NOT what you are.
T 8 D 7. Whenever you are with a brother you are learning what you are, because you are TEACHING what you are. He will
respond either with pain or with joy, depending on which teacher YOU are following. HE will be imprisoned or released according
to your decision, AND SO WILL YOU. Never forget your responsibility to him, because it is your responsibility to YOURSELF.
Give him HIS place in the Kingdom, and you will have YOURS. The Kingdom CANNOT be found alone, and you who ARE the
Kingdom cannot find YOURSELVES alone.
T 8 D 8. To achieve the goal of the curriculum, then, you CANNOT listen to the ego. Its purpose is to DEFEAT ITS OWN GOAL.
It does not know this, because it does not know anything. But YOU can know this, and you WILL know it if you are willing to look
at what the ego has made of YOU.
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This IS your responsibility, because once you have really done this you WILL accept the Atonement for yourself. What other choice
could you make?
T 8 D 9. Having made this choice, you will begin to learn and understand why you have believed that when you met someone else,
you have thought he WAS someone else. And every holy encounter in which YOU enter fully will teach you THAT THIS IS NOT
SO. You can encounter ONLY part of yourself, because you are part of God WHO IS EVERYTHING. His power and glory are
everywhere, and you CANNOT be excluded from them. The ego teaches that your strength is in you ALONE. The Holy Spirit
teaches that ALL strength is in God and THEREFORE in you.
T 8 D 10. God wills NO-ONE suffer. He does not will ANYONE to suffer for a wrong decision you have made, including
YOURSELF. That is why He has given you the means for UNDOING it. Through His power and glory all your wrong decisions are
undone COMPLETELY, releasing you AND your brothers from EVERY IMPRISONING THOUGHT ANY part of the Sonship
has accepted. Wrong decisions HAVE no power BECAUSE they are not true. The imprisonment which they SEEM to produce is no
more true than THEY are.
T 8 D 11. Power and glory belong to God alone. So do YOU. God gives WHATEVER belongs to Him, because He gives OF
HIMSELF, and EVERYTHING belongs to Him. Giving of YOUR self is the function He gave you. Fulfilling it perfectly will teach
you what YOU have of HIM. And this will teach you what you are IN Him. You CANNOT be powerLESS to do this, because this
IS your power. Glory is God's gift to you because that is what HE is. See this glory everywhere, to learn what YOU are.
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T 8 E. The Light of the World (*N 776 7:108)
T 8 E 1. If God's Will for you is complete peace and joy, unless you experience ONLY this you MUST be refusing to acknowledge
His Will. His Will does not vacillate, being changeless forever. When you are not at peace, it can only be because you do not
believe you are IN HIM. Yet He is all in all. His peace IS complete, and you MUST be included in it. His laws govern you because
they govern EVERYTHING. You cannot exempt yourself from His laws, although you CAN disobey them. But if you do, and
ONLY if you do, you WILL feel lonely and helpless, because you Are denying yourself everything.
T 8 E 2. I am come as a light into the world which DOES deny itself everything. It does this simply by dissociating itself FROM
everything. It is therefore an illusion of isolation, MAINTAINED by fear of the same loneliness which IS its illusion. I have told
you that I am with you always even to the end of the world. That is WHY I am the light of the world. If I am with you in the
loneliness of the world, THE LONELINESS IS GONE. You CANNOT maintain the illusion of loneliness if you are NOT alone.
T 8 E 3. My purpose, then, IS to overcome the world. I do not attack it, but my light must dispel it because of WHAT IT IS. Light
does not ATTACK darkness, but it DOES shine it away. If my light goes with you everywhere, YOU shine it away WITH ME. The
light becomes OURS, and you CANNOT abide in darkness, any more than darkness can abide anywhere you go. The remembrance
of me IS the remembrance of yourself and of Him Who sent me to you.
T 8 E 4. You WERE in darkness until God's Will was done completely by ANY part of the Sonship. When it was, it was perfectly
accomplished by ALL. How else could it BE perfectly accomplished? My mission was simply to UNITE the Will of the Sonship
WITH the Will of the Father by being aware of the Father's Will myself. This is the awareness I came to give YOU, and YOUR
problem in accepting it IS the problem of this world. Dispelling it is salvation, and in this sense I AM the salvation of the world.
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T 8 E 5. The world MUST despise and reject me, because the world IS the belief that love is impossible. YOUR reactions to me
ARE the reactions of the world to God. If you will accept the fact that I am with you, you are DENYING the world and
ACCEPTING GOD. My will IS His, and YOUR will to hear me IS the decision to hear His Voice and abide in His Will. As He sent
me to you, so will I send you to others. But I will go to them WITH you, so we can teach them union and peace.
T 8 E 6. Do you not think the world needs peace as much as you do? Do you not want to give it to the world as much as you want to
receive it? For unless you do, you will NOT receive it. If you will to have it of me, you MUST give it. Rehabilitation does not come
from anyone ELSE. You can have GUIDANCE from without, but you must ACCEPT it from within. The guidance must become
what YOU want, or else it will be meaningless to you. That is why rehabilitation is a collaborative venture. I can tell you what to
DO, but this will not really help you unless you collaborate by believing that I KNOW what to do. Only then will your MIND will
to follow me.
T 8 E 7. Without YOUR will, you cannot be rehabilitated. MOTIVATION TO BE HEALED is the crucial factor in rehabilitation.
Without this, you are deciding AGAINST healing, and your veto of my will FOR you MAKES HEALING IMPOSSIBLE. If
healing IS our joint will, unless our wills ARE joined you CANNOT be healed. This is obvious when you consider what healing is
FOR.
T 8 E 8. Healing is the way in which the separation is overcome. Separation is overcome by UNION. It CANNOT be overcome by
separating. The WILL to unite must be unequivocal, or the will ITSELF is separated or NOT WHOLE. Your will is the means by
which you determine your own condition, because will is the MECHANISM OF DECISION. It is the power by which you separate
or join, and experience pain or joy accordingly. My will cannot OVERCOME yours, because YOURS IS AS POWERFUL AS
MINE. If it were not so, the Sons
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of God would be unequal.
T 8 E 9. All things BECOME possible through our joint will. But my will alone will not help you. Your will is as free as mine, and
God Himself would not go against it. I cannot will what God does not will. I CAN offer you my will to make yours invincible by
this sharing, but I CANNOT oppose yours without competing with it and thereby violating God's Will for you. Nothing God
created can oppose your will, as nothing God created can oppose His. God gave your will its power, which I can only acknowledge
in honor of His.
T 8 E 10. If you want to be LIKE me, I will help you, knowing that we ARE alike. If you want to be DIFFERENT, I will wait until
you change your mind. I can TEACH you, but only you can choose to LISTEN to my teaching. How else can it be, if God's
Kingdom IS freedom? Freedom cannot be learned by tyranny of ANY kind, and the perfect equality of ALL God's Sons cannot be
recognized through the dominion of one will over another. God's Sons are equal in will, all being the Will of their Father. This is
the ONLY lesson I can teach, knowing that it is true.
T 8 E 11. When your will is NOT mine, it is not Our Father's. This means that you have imprisoned YOURS, and have not LET it
be free. Of yourselves you can do nothing, because of yourselves you ARE nothing. I am nothing without the Father, and YOU are
nothing without me because by DENYING the Father you deny YOURSELF. I will ALWAYS remember you, and in MY
remembrance OF you lies your remembrance of YOURSELF. In our remembrance of EACH OTHER lies our remembrance of God.
And in this remembrance lies your freedom, because your freedom is in Him.
T 8 E 12. Join then with me in praise of Him AND you whom He created. This is our gift of gratitude to Him, which He will share
with ALL His Creations, to whom He gives equally whatever is acceptable to Him. BECAUSE it is acceptable to Him, it is the gift
of freedom, which IS His Will for all His Sons. By OFFERING freedom you will be free, because
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freedom is the only gift which you can offer to God's Sons, being an acknowledgment of what they are and what HE is.
T 8 E 13. Freedom is creation because it is love. What you seek to imprison you do NOT love. Therefore, when you seek to
imprison ANYONE, including YOURSELF, you do not love him and you cannot identify with him. When you imprison yourself,
you are losing sight of your true identification with me and with the Father. Your identification IS with the Father and with the Son.
It CANNOT be with one and not the other. If you are part of one, you MUST be part of the other because they ARE One.
T 8 E 14. The Holy Trinity is holy BECAUSE It is One. If you exclude YOURSELF from this union, you are perceiving the Holy
Trinity as separated. You MUST be included in It, because It IS everything. Unless you take your place in It and fulfill your
function AS part of It, It is as bereft as YOU are. No part of It can be imprisoned if Its Truth is to be known.
T 8 E 15. Can you be separated from your identification and be at peace? Dissociation is NOT a solution; it is a DELUSION. The
delusional believe that truth will ASSAIL them, and so they DO NOT SEE IT because they prefer the delusion. Judging truth as
something they do NOT want, they perceive deception and block knowledge. Help them by offering them YOUR unified will on
their behalf, as I am offering you mine on YOURS. Alone we can do nothing, but TOGETHER our wills fuse into something whose
power is far beyond the power of its separate parts.
T 8 E 16. By NOT BEING SEPARATE, the Will of God is established IN ours and AS ours. This will is invincible BECAUSE it is
undivided. The UNDIVIDED will of the Sonship is the perfect creator, being wholly in the likeness of God, Whose Will it IS. YOU
cannot be exempt from it, if you are to understand what it is and what YOU are. By separating your will from mine, you ARE
exempting yourself from the Will of God which IS yourself.
T 8 E 17. But to heal is still to make whole. Therefore to heal is to UNITE with those who are LIKE you, because perceiving this
likeness IS to
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recognize the Father. If YOUR perfection is in Him and ONLY in Him, how can you KNOW it WITHOUT recognizing Him? The
recognition of God is the recognition of yourself. There IS no separation of God and His Creation. You will learn this as you learn
that there is no separation of YOUR will and mine.
T 8 E 18. Let the love of God shine upon you by your acceptance of me. MY reality is yours and His. By joining YOUR will with
mine, you are signifying your awareness that the Will of God is One. His Oneness and ours are not separate, because His Oneness
ENCOMPASSES ours. To join WITH me is to restore His power TO you BECAUSE we are sharing it. I offer you only the
recognition of His power in you, but in that lies ALL truth. As WE unite, we unite with Him. Glory be to the union of God and His
Holy Sons, because all glory lies IN them because they ARE united.
T 8 E 19. The miracles WE do bear witness to the Will of the Father for His Son, and to our joy in uniting WITH His Will FOR us.
When you unite with me, you are uniting WITHOUT the ego, because I have renounced the ego in myself, and therefore CANNOT
unite with yours. OUR union is therefore the way to renounce the ego in YOURSELVES. The truth in both of us is BEYOND the
ego. By willing that, you HAVE gone beyond it toward truth.
T 8 E 20. Our success in transcending the ego is guaranteed by God, and I can share my perfect confidence IN His Promise because
I know He gave me this confidence for both of us and ALL of us. I bring His Peace back to all His Children, because I received it of
Him for us all. Nothing can prevail against our united wills, because nothing can prevail against God's. Would ye know the Will of
God for YOU? Ask it of me, who knows it for you, and you will find it. I will deny YOU nothing, as God denies ME nothing.
T 8 E 21. Ours is simply the journey back to God Who is our home. Whenever fear intrudes anywhere along the road to peace, it is
ALWAYS because the ego has attempted to JOIN the journey with us AND CANNOT DO SO. Sensing defeat and angered by it, it
regards itself as rejected and becomes
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retaliative. You are invulnerable to its retaliation BECAUSE I AM WITH YOU. On this journey, you have chosen me as your
companion INSTEAD of your ego. Do not try to hold on to both, or you will try to go in different directions and will lose the way.
T 8 E 22. The ego's way is not mine, but it is also NOT YOURS. The Holy Spirit has one direction for ALL minds, and the one He
taught me IS yours. Let us not lose sight of His direction through illusions, for ONLY illusions of another direction can obscure the
one for which God's Voice speaks in all of us. Never accord the ego the power to interfere with the journey, because it HAS none,
and the journey is the way to what is TRUE. Leave ALL deception behind, and reach beyond all attempts of the ego to hold you
back.
T 8 E 23. I DO go before you, because I AM beyond the ego. Reach therefore for my hand because you WANT to transcend the
ego. My will, will NEVER be wanting, and if you want to share it YOU WILL. I give it willingly and gladly, because I need YOU
as much as you need ME.
T 8 F. The Power of Joint Decision (*N 789 7:121)
T 8 F 1. WE are the joint will of the Sonship, whose wholeness is for all. We begin the journey back by setting out TOGETHER,
and gather in our brothers as we CONTINUE together.
T 8 F 2. Every gain in our strength is offered to all, so they, too, can lay aside their weakness and add their strength to us. God's
welcome waits for us all, and He will welcome us as I am welcoming YOU. Forget not the Kingdom of God for anything the world
has to offer. The world can ADD nothing to the power and the glory of God and His Holy Sons, but it CAN blind the Sons to the
Father if they behold it. You cannot behold the world and know God. Only one is true.
T 8 F 3. I am come to tell you that the choice of which is true is not yours. If it were, you would have destroyed yourselves. But God
did not will the destruction of His Creations, having created them for eternity. His Will has saved you, not from yourselves, but
from your illusions of yourselves. He has saved you FOR yourselves. Let us glorify Him Whom the world denies, for over His
Kingdom it has no power.
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T 8 F 4. No-one created by God can find joy in anything except the eternal. That is not because he is DEPRIVED of anything else,
but because nothing else is WORTHY of him. What God AND His Sons create IS eternal, and in this and this only is their joy.
Listen to the story of the prodigal son, and learn what God's treasure is and YOURS:
T 8 F 5. This son of a loving father left his home and thought he squandered everything for nothing of any value, though he did not
know its worthlessness at the time. He was ashamed to return to his father, because he thought he had hurt him. But when he came
home the father welcomed him with joy, because only the son himself WAS his father's treasure. HE WANTED NOTHING ELSE.
T 8 F 6. God wants only His Son, because His Son is His only treasure. You want your creations, as He wants His. Your creations
are your gift to the Holy Trinity, created in gratitude for YOUR creation. They do not leave you, any more than you have left
YOUR Creator. But they EXTEND your creation, as God extended Himself to YOU. Can the Creations of God Himself take joy in
what is not real? And what IS real except the Creations of God and those which are created like His? YOUR creations love you as
your Soul loves your Father FOR THE GIFT OF CREATION. There is no other gift that is eternal, and therefore THERE IS NO
OTHER GIFT THAT IS TRUE.
T 8 F 7. How, then, can you accept anything else, or GIVE anything else, and expect joy in return? And what else BUT joy would
you want? You made neither yourself nor your function. YOU have made only the DECISION to be unworthy of both. But you
COULD not make YOURSELF unworthy because YOU ARE THE TREASURE OF GOD. What HE values IS valuable. There
CAN be no question of its worth, because its value lies in God's sharing Himself with it and ESTABLISHING ITS
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VALUE FOREVER. YOUR function is to ADD to God's treasure by creating YOURS. His will TO you is His Will FOR you. He
would not withhold creation from you, because HIS joy is in it.
T 8 F 8. You CANNOT find joy EXCEPT as He does. HIS joy lay in creating YOU, and He extends His Fatherhood to you so that
you can extend yourself AS HE DID. You do not understand this because you do not understand Him. No-one who does not know
his function can understand it. And no-one CAN know his function unless he knows who he IS. Creation is the Will of God. His
Will created you TO CREATE. Your will was not created separate from His, and so it wills as HE wills.
T 8 F 9. An unwilling will does not mean anything, because it is a contradiction in terms which actually leaves nothing. You can
make yourself powerless only in a way that has NO MEANING AT ALL. When you THINK you are unwilling to will with God,
YOU ARE NOT THINKING. God's will IS thought. It cannot be contradicted BY thought. God does not contradict HIMSELF.
And His Sons, who are like Him, cannot contradict themselves OR Him. But their thought is so powerful that they can even
imprison the mind of God's Son IF THEY SO CHOOSE. This choice DOES make the Son's function unknown TO HIM, but never
to his Creator. And BECAUSE it is not unknown to his Creator, it is forever knowable to him.
T 8 F 10. There is no question but one you should ever ask of yourself: "Do I want to know my Father's Will for me?" HE will not
hide it. He has revealed it to me because I asked it of Him, and learned of what He had already given. Our function is to function
together, because apart from each other we cannot function at all. The whole power of God's Son lies in all of us, but not in any of
us alone.
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God would not have us be alone because HE does not will to be alone. That is why He created His Son and gave him the power to
create with Him. Our creations are as holy as we are, and we are the Sons of God Himself, and therefore as holy as He is. Through
our creations we extend our Love, and thus increase the joy of the Holy Trinity. You do not understand this for a very simple
reason. You who are God's own treasure do not regard yourselves as valuable. Given this belief YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND
ANYTHING.
T 8 F 11. I share with God the knowledge of the value HE puts upon you. My devotion to you is of Him, being born of my
knowledge of myself AND Him. We cannot BE separated. Whom God has joined CANNOT be separated, and God has joined all
His Sons WITH HIMSELF. Can you be separated from your life and your being? The journey to God is merely the reawakening of
the knowledge of where you are always, and what you are forever. It is a journey without distance, to a goal that has never changed.
T 8 F 12. Truth can only be EXPERIENCED. It cannot be described and it cannot be explained. I can make you aware of the
CONDITIONS of truth, but the experience is of God. Together we can meet its conditions, but truth will dawn upon you of itself.
What God has willed for you IS yours. He has given His Will to His treasure, whose treasure It is. Your heart lies where your
treasure is, as His does. You who are beloved of God are wholly blessed. Learn this of me, and free the Holy Will of all those who
are as blessed as you are.
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T 8 G. Communication and the Ego-Body Equation (*N 798 7:130)
T 8 G 1. Attack is ALWAYS physical. When attack in ANY form enters your mind, you are EQUATING YOURSELF WITH A
BODY. This is the ego's INTERPRETATION of the body. You do not have to ATTACK physically to accept this interpretation;
you ARE accepting it simply by the belief that attack can GET YOU SOMETHING YOU WANT. If you did NOT believe this, the
IDEA of attack would have no appeal to you.
T 8 G 2. When you equate yourself with a body, you will ALWAYS experience depression. When a Child of God thinks of himself
in this way, he is belittling himself and seeing his brothers as similarly belittled. Since he can find himself ONLY in them, he has
cut himself off from salvation. Remember that the Holy Spirit interprets the body ONLY as a means of communication. Being the
communication link between God and His separated Sons, He interprets everything YOU have in the light of what HE is.
T 8 G 3. The ego SEPARATES through the body. The Holy Spirit reaches THROUGH it to others. You do not perceive your
brothers as the Holy Spirit does because you do not interpret their bodies AND YOURS solely as a means of JOINING THEIR
MINDS and uniting them with yours and mine. This interpretation of the body will change your mind entirely about its value. Of
itself it has NONE. If you use it for attack it is harmful to you. But if you use it ONLY to reach the minds of those who believe they
ARE bodies and teach them THROUGH the body that THIS IS NOT SO, you will begin to understand the power of the mind that is
in both of you. If you use the body for this, and ONLY for this, you CANNOT use it for attack. In the service of uniting, it becomes
a beautiful lesson in communion, which has value until communion IS.
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T 8 G 4. This is God's way of making unlimited what YOU have limited. His Voice does not see the body as YOU do, because He
knows the ONLY reality that ANYTHING can have is the service it can render God on behalf of the function HE has given.
Communication ENDS separation. Attack PROMOTES it. The body is ugly or beautiful, savage or holy, helpful or harmful,
according to the use to which it is put. And in the body of another you will see the use to which you put YOURS.
T 8 G 5. If the body becomes for you a means which you give to the Holy Spirit to use on behalf of the union of the Sonship, you
will not see ANYTHING physical except as WHAT IT IS. Use it for truth, and you will see it truly. MISuse it and you WILL
misunderstand it, because you have already done so BY misusing it. Interpret ANYTHING apart from the Holy Spirit, and you will
mistrust it. This will lead you to hatred and attack and LOSS OF PEACE.
T 8 G 6. But ALL loss comes only from your own misunderstanding. Loss of ANY kind is impossible. When you look upon a
brother as a physical entity, HIS power and glory are lost to you and SO ARE YOURS. You HAVE attacked him, and you MUST
have attacked yourself first. Do not see him this way for your OWN salvation, which MUST bring him his. Do not ALLOW him to
belittle himself in YOUR mind, but give him freedom from his belief in littleness, and escape from YOURS. As part of YOU, HE is
holy. As part of ME, YOU are. To communicate with a part of God Himself is to reach beyond the Kingdom to its Creator, through
His Voice which He has established as part of YOU.
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T 8 G 7. Rejoice, then, that of yourselves you can do nothing. You are not OF yourselves. And He of Whom you ARE has willed
your power and glory FOR you, with which you can perfectly accomplish His holy Will for you when you so will it yourself. He
has not withdrawn His gifts from YOU, but YOU have withdrawn them from Him. Let no Son of God remain hidden for His
Name's sake, because His Name is YOURS.
T 8 G 8. Remember that the Bible says, "The word (or thought) was made flesh." Strictly speaking, this is impossible, since it seems
to involve the translation of one order of reality into another. Different orders of reality merely SEEM to exist, just as different
orders of miracles do. Thought cannot be MADE into flesh except by belief, because thought is NOT physical. But thought IS
communication, for which the body can be used. This is the only NATURAL use to which it can be put. To use the body
UNnaturally is to lose sight of the Holy Spirit's purpose, and thus to confuse the goal of His curriculum.
T 8 G 9. There is nothing so frustrating to a learner as to place him in a curriculum which he cannot learn. His sense of adequacy
suffers, and he MUST become depressed. Being faced with an impossible learning situation, REGARDLESS of why it is
impossible, is the most depressing thing in the world. In fact, it is ultimately WHY the world is depressing. The Holy Spirit's
curriculum is NEVER depressing because it is a curriculum in joy. Whenever the reaction to learning is depression, it is only
because the goal of the curriculum has been lost sight of.
T 8 G 10. In the world, not even the body is perceived as whole. Its purpose is seen as fragmented into many functions which bear
little or no relationship to each other, so that it appears to be ruled by chaos.
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Guided by the ego, it IS. Guided by the Holy Spirit, it is NOT. It becomes ONLY a means by which the part of the mind which you
have separated from your Soul can reach beyond its distortions and RETURN to the Soul. The ego's temple thus becomes the
temple of the Holy Spirit, where devotion to Him replaces devotion to the ego. In this sense the body DOES become a temple to
God, because His Voice abides in it by directing the use TO WHICH YOU PUT IT.
T 8 G 11. Healing is the result of using the body SOLELY for communication. Since this IS natural, it heals by making whole,
which is also natural. ALL mind is whole, and the belief that part of it is physical or NOT MIND is a fragmented (or sick)
interpretation. Mind CANNOT be made physical, but it CAN be made manifest THROUGH the physical if it uses the body to GO
BEYOND itself. By reaching OUT, the mind EXTENDS itself. It does not STOP at the body, for if it does it is blocked in its
purpose. A mind which has been blocked has allowed itself to be vulnerable to attack, because it has TURNED AGAINST ITSELF.
T 8 G 12. The removal of blocks, then, is the ONLY way to guarantee help and healing. Help and healing are the normal
expressions of a mind which is working through the body but not IN it. If the mind believes the body is its GOAL, it WILL distort
its perception OF the body, and by blocking its own extension BEYOND it will INDUCE illness by FOSTERING SEPARATION.
Perceiving the body AS A SEPARATE ENTITY cannot BUT foster illness, because it is not true. A medium of communication
WILL lose its usefullness if it is used for anything else.
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T 8 G 13. To use a medium of communication as a medium of ATTACK is an obvious confusion in purpose. To communicate is to
join and to attack is to separate. How can you do both simultaneously WITH THE SAME THING, and NOT suffer? Perception of
the body can be unified only by ONE PURPOSE. This releases the mind from the temptation to see it in many lights, and gives it
over ENTIRELY to the One Light in which it can be really understood at all.
T 8 G 14. To confuse a learning device with a curriculum GOAL is a fundamental confusion. Learning can hardly be meaningfully
arrested at its own aids, and hope to understand them OR its real purpose. Learning must lead BEYOND the body to the
re-establishment of the power of the mind IN it. This can be accomplished ONLY if the mind EXTENDS to other minds, and does not
ARREST ITSELF in its extension. The arrest of the mind's extension is the cause of all illness, because ONLY EXTENSION IS
THE MIND's FUNCTION. Block this, and you have blocked health because you have BLOCKED THE MIND's JOY.
T 8 G 15. The opposite of joy is depression. When your learning promotes depression INSTEAD of joy, you CANNOT be listening
to God's joyous teacher, and you MUST be learning amiss. To see a body as anything EXCEPT a means of pure extension is to
limit your mind and HURT YOURSELF. Health is therefore nothing more than united purpose. If the body is brought under the
purpose of the mind, it becomes whole because the mind's purpose IS one.
T 8 G 16. Attack can only be an assumed goal of the body, but the body APART from the mind HAS NO PURPOSE AT ALL. You
are NOT limited by the body, and thought CANNOT be made flesh. But mind can be manifested through the body if it goes beyond
it and DOES NOT INTERPRET IT AS LIMITATION. Whenever you see another as limited TO or BY the body, you are imposing
this limit ON YOURSELF. Are you willing to ACCEPT this, when your whole purpose for learning should be to escape FROM
limitations?
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T 8 G 17. To conceive of the body as a means of attack of any kind, and to entertain even the possibility that joy could POSSIBLY
result, is a clear-cut indication of a poor learner. He has accepted a learning goal in obvious contradiction to the unified purpose of
the curriculum, and is interfering with his ability to accept it AS HIS OWN.
T 8 G 18. Joy is unified purpose, and unified purpose is ONLY God's. When yours is unified, it IS His. Interfere with His purpose,
and YOU NEED SALVATION. You have condemned yourself, but condemnation is not of God. Therefore, it is not true. No more
are any of the RESULTS of your condemnation. When you see a brother as a body, you are condemning him BECAUSE you have
condemned yourself. But if ALL condemnation is unreal, and it MUST be unreal because it is a form of attack, then it can HAVE
no results.
T 8 G 19. Do not allow yourselves to suffer from the results of what is not true. Free your minds from the belief that this is possible.
In its complete impossibility, and your full awareness OF its complete impossibility, lies your only hope for release. But what other
hope would you want? Freedom from illusions lies only in not BELIEVING them. THERE IS NO ATTACK, but there IS unlimited
communication and therefore unlimited power and wholeness. The power of wholeness is EXTENSION. Do not arrest your thought
in this world, and you will open your mind to Creation in God.
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T 8 H. The Body as Means or End (*N 813 7:145)
T 8 H 1. Attitudes toward the body are attitudes toward ATTACK. The ego's definitions of ANYTHING are childish, and are
ALWAYS based on what it believes a thing is FOR. This is because it is incapable of true generalizations, and equates what it sees
with the function IT ascribes to it. It does NOT equate it with what it IS. To the ego, the body IS TO ATTACK WITH. Equating
YOU with the body, it teaches that YOU are to attack with, because THIS IS WHAT IT BELIEVES. The body, then, is not the
source of its own health. Its condition lies solely in your interpretation of its function.
T 8 H 2. The reasons why definitions by function are inferior is merely because they may well be inaccurate. Functions are part of
being, since they arise FROM it. But the relationship is NOT reciprocal. The whole does define the part, but the part does NOT
define the whole. This is as true of knowledge as it is of perception. The reason why to KNOW in part is to know entirely is merely
because of the fundamental difference between knowledge and perception. In perception, the whole is built up of parts, which can
separate and reassemble in different constellations. Knowledge never changes, so that its constellation is permanent. The only areas
in which part-whole relationships have any meaning are those in which change is possible. There IS no difference between the
whole and the part where change is impossible.
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T 8 H 3. The body exists in a world which seems to contain two voices which are fighting for its possession. In this perceived
constellation, the body is regarded as capable of shifting its control from one to the other, making the concept of both health and
sickness possible. The ego makes a fundamental confusion between means and ends, as it always does. Regarding the body as an
end, it has no real use for it at all, because it is NOT an end. You must have noticed an outstanding characteristic of every end that
the ego has accepted as its own. When you have achieved it, IT HAS NOT SATISFIED YOU. This is why the ego is forced to shift
from one end to another without ceasing, so that YOU will continue to hope it can offer you something.
T 8 H 4. It has been particularly difficult to overcome the ego's belief in the body as an end because this is synonymous with
ATTACK AS AN END. The ego has a REAL INVESTMENT IN SICKNESS. If you are sick, how can you object to the ego's firm
belief that you are NOT invulnerable? This is a particularly appealing argument from the ego's point of view, because it obscures
the obvious attack which underlies the sickness. If you accepted THIS, and also decided AGAINST attack, you could not give this
false witness to the ego's stand. It is hard to perceive this as a false witness, because you do not realize that it IS entirely out of
keeping with what YOU want. This witness, then, appears to be innocent and trustworthy only because YOU have not seriously
cross-examined him.
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T 8 H 5. If you did, you would not consider sickness such a strong witness on behalf of the ego's views. A more honest statement
would be as follows: Those who WANT the ego are predisposed to defend it. Therefore, their choice of witnesses should be suspect
from the beginning. The ego does not call upon witnesses who might disagree with its case, NOR DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT. We
have said before that judgment IS the function of the Holy Spirit, and one which He is perfectly equipped to fulfill. The ego, as a
judge, gives anything BUT an impartial trial (judgment.) When the ego calls on a witness, it has ALREADY MADE IT AN ALLY.
It is still true that the body has no function of itself. This is because it is NOT an end. The ego, however, establishes it AS an end
because, as such, IT WILL LOSE ITS TRUE FUNCTION.
T 8 H 6. This is the purpose of everything the ego does. Its sole aim is to lose sight of the functions of EVERYTHING. A sick body
does not make any sense. It COULD not make any sense, since sickness is not what it is FOR. Sickness is meaningful only if the
two basic premises on which the ego's interpretation of the body rests are true. These are specifically first that the body is for attack,
and also that you ARE a body. Without this, sickness is completely inconceivable. Sickness is a way of demonstrating that YOU
CAN BE HURT. It is a witness to your frailty, your vulnerability, and your extreme need to depend on external guidance. The ego
uses this as its best argument for your need for ITS guidance. It dictates endless prescriptions for AVOIDING this catastrophic
outcome. The Holy Spirit, perfectly aware of the same data, does not bother to
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analyze it at all. If the data are meaningless, there is no point in treating them at all.
T 8 H 7. The function of truth is to collect data which are TRUE. There is no point in trying to make sense out of meaningless data.
ANY way they are handled results in nothing. The more complicated the results become, the harder it may be to recognize their
nothingness, but it is not necessary to examine ALL possible outcomes to which premises give rise to judge the PREMISES truly.
T 8 H 8. A learning DEVICE is NOT a teacher. IT cannot tell you how you feel. YOU do not KNOW how you feel, because YOU
HAVE ACCEPTED THE EGO's CONFUSION, and YOU think A LEARNING DEVICE CAN TELL YOU HOW YOU FEEL.
Sickness is merely another example of your insistence on asking for guidance of a teacher who DOES NOT KNOW THE
ANSWER. The ego is INCAPABLE of knowing how you feel. When we said that the ego DOES NOT KNOW ANYTHING, we
said the one thing about the ego that is wholly true. But there is a corollary. If knowledge is being, and the ego has no knowledge,
then the ego HAS NO BEING.
T 8 H 9. You might ask how the voice of something which does not exist can be so insistent. Have you ever seriously considered the
distorting power of something you WANT, even if it is not true? You have had many instances of how what you want can distort
what you see and hear. No-one can doubt the ego's skill in building up false cases. And no-one can doubt your willingness to listen,
until YOU will not to tolerate ANYTHING except truth.
T 8 H 10. When YOU lay the ego aside it will be gone. The Holy Spirit's voice is as loud as your willingness to listen. It cannot be
louder without violating your will, which He seeks to free but never to command.
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He will teach you to use your body ONLY to reach your brothers so He can teach His message through you. This will heal them and
THEREFORE heal you. Everything used in accordance with its function as HE sees it CANNOT be sick. Everything used otherwise
IS.
T 8 H 11. Do not allow the body to be a mirror of a split mind. Do not let it be an image of your own perception of littleness. Do not
let it reflect your will to attack. Health is the natural state of anything whose interpretation is left to the Holy Spirit, who perceives
no attack on anything. Health is the result of relinquishing ALL attempts to use the body lovelessly. It is the beginning of the proper
perspective on life, under the guidance of the one teacher who knows what life IS, being the voice for Life Itself.
T 8 I. Healing as Corrected Perception (*N 817 7:149)
T 8 I 1. We once said that the Holy Spirit is the Answer. He is the answer to EVERYTHING, because He knows what the answer to
everything IS. The ego does not know what a REAL question is, although it asks an endless number. But YOU can learn this, as you
learn to question the value of the ego and thus establish your ability to EVALUATE its questions. When the ego tempts you to
sickness, do not ask the Holy Spirit to heal the body. For this would merely be to accept the ego's belief that the body is the proper
aim for healing. Ask rather that the Holy Spirit teach you the right PERCEPTION of the body, for perception alone can be distorted.
T 8 I 2. ONLY PERCEPTION CAN BE SICK, because perception can be WRONG. Wrong perception is DISTORTED WILLING,
which WANTS things to be as they are not. The reality of EVERYTHING is totally harmless, because total harmlessness is the
CONDITION of its reality. It is also the condition of your AWARENESS of its reality. You do not have to SEEK reality. It will
seek you and FIND you, WHEN YOU MEET ITS CONDITIONS. Its conditions are part of WHAT IT IS. And this part only is up
to you. The rest is of Itself. You need
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do so little, because It is so powerful that your little part WILL bring the whole to you. Accept, then, your little part, and LET the
whole be yours. Wholeness heals BECAUSE it is of the mind.
T 8 I 3. All forms of sickness, even unto death, are physical expressions of the FEAR OF AWAKENING. They are attempts to
reinforce UNCONSCIOUSNESS out of fear of CONSCIOUSNESS. This is a pathetic way of TRYING NOT TO KNOW by
rendering the faculties for knowing ineffectual. "Rest in peace" is a blessing for the living, not the dead, because rest comes from
waking, not from sleeping. Sleep is withdrawing; waking is JOINING. Dreams are ILLUSIONS of joining, taking on the ego's
distortions about what joining means, if you are sleeping under its guidance. But the Holy Spirit, too, has use for sleep, and can use
dreams on BEHALF of waking, if you will let Him.
T 8 I 4. How you wake is the sign of how you have used sleep. To whom did you give it? Under which teacher did you place it?
Whenever you wake dis-spiritedly, it was NOT of the Spirit. ONLY when you awaken joyously have you utilized sleep
ACCORDING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT's PURPOSE. You can indeed be "drugged by sleep," but this is ALWAYS because you
have MISUSED IT ON BEHALF OF SICKNESS. Sleep is no more a form of death than death is a form of unconsciousness.
UNCONSCIOUSNESS IS IMPOSSIBLE. You can rest in peace only BECAUSE YOU ARE AWAKE.
T 8 I 5. Healing is release from the fear of waking, and the substitution of the will to wake. The will to wake is the will to love,
since ALL healing involves replacing fear with love. The Holy Spirit cannot distinguish among degrees of error, for if He taught
that one form of sickness is more serious than another, He would be teaching that one error can be more REAL than another. But
HIS function is to distinguish ONLY between the false and the true, REPLACING the false WITH the true.
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T 8 I 6. The ego, which always WEAKENS the will, wants to SEPARATE the body from the mind. This IS an attempt to
DESTROY it. But the ego actually believes that it is PROTECTING it. This is because it believes that MIND IS DANGEROUS,
and that to MAKE MINDLESS is to heal. But to make mindless is impossible, since it would mean to make nothing out of what
God Created. The ego DESPISES weakness, even though it makes every effort to INDUCE it. IT WANTS ONLY WHAT IT
HATES. To the ego this is perfectly sensible. Believing in the power of attack, it WANTS it.
T 8 I 7. You have begun to realize that this is a very practical course, because it means EXACTLY what it says. So does the Bible,
if it is properly understood. There has been a marked tendency on the part of many of the Bible's followers, and also its translators,
to be entirely literal about fear and ITS effects, but NOT about love and ITS results. Thus, "hellfire" means burning, but raising the
dead becomes allegorical. Actually, it is PARTICULARLY the references to the outcomes of love that should be taken literally
because the Bible is ABOUT love, being about GOD.
T 8 I 8. The Bible enjoins you to be perfect, to heal ALL errors, to take no thought of the body AS SEPARATE, and to accomplish
all things IN MY NAME. This is not my name alone, for ours is a shared identification. The name of God's Son is One, and you are
enjoined to do the works of love BECAUSE we share this oneness. Our minds are whole BECAUSE they are one. If you are sick,
you are withdrawing from me. But you CANNOT WITHDRAW FROM ME ALONE. You can only withdraw from yourself AND
me.
T 8 I 9. I would not ask you to do things which you CANNOT do, and it is impossible that I could do things YOU cannot do. Given
this, and given this QUITE LITERALLY, there CAN be nothing which prevents you from doing EXACTLY what I ask, and
EVERYTHING which argues FOR it. I give you NO limits, because God lays none upon you.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(376) C 203
When you limit YOURSELF, we are NOT of one mind, and that IS sickness. But sickness is not of the body, but OF THE MIND.
ALL forms of DISfunction are merely signs that the mind has split, and does not accept a UNIFIED PURPOSE.
T 8 I 10. The unification of purpose, then, is the Holy Spirit's ONLY way of healing. This is because it is the only level at which
healing MEANS anything. The re-establishing of meaning in a chaotic thought system IS the only way to heal it. We said before
that your task is only to meet the conditions FOR meaning, since meaning itself is of God. But your RETURN to meaning is
essential TO HIS, because YOUR meaning is PART of His. Your healing, then, is part of HIS health, because it is part of His
Wholeness. He cannot lose this, but YOU can not know it. Yet it is still His will for you, and His will MUST stand forever and in all
things.
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T 8 J. The Acceptance of Reality (*N 824 7:156)
T 8 J 1. Fear of the Will of God is one of the strangest beliefs that the human mind has ever made. This could not possibly have
occurred unless the mind was already profoundly split, making it possible for IT to be afraid of what it really is. It is apparent that
reality CANNOT "threaten" anything except illusions, because reality can only UPHOLD truth. The very fact that the will of God,
which IS what you are, is perceived as fearful TO you demonstrates that you ARE afraid of what you are. It is not, then, the will of
God of which you are afraid, but YOURS. Your will is NOT the ego's, and that is why the ego is against you. What seems to be the
fear of God is really only the fear of YOUR OWN REALITY.
T 8 J 2. It is impossible to learn anything consistently in a state of panic. If the purpose of this course is to learn what you are, and if
you have ALREADY DECIDED that what you are is FEARFUL, then it MUST follow that you will NOT LEARN THIS
COURSE. But you might remember that the reason FOR the course is that you do NOT know who you are. If you do not know your
reality, how would you know whether it is fearful or not? The association of truth and fear, which would be highly artificial at best,
is particularly inappropriate in the minds of those who do not know what truth IS. All that this kind of association means is that you
are arbitrarily endowing something quite beyond your awareness with something YOU DO NOT WANT.
T 8 J 3. It is evident, then, that you are judging something of which you are totally unaware. You have set this strange situation up
so that it is COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE to escape from it WITHOUT a guide who DOES know what your reality is. The
purpose of this Guide is merely to remind you of what YOU want. He is not attempting to force an alien will UPON you. He is
merely making every possible effort, within the limits YOU impose upon Him, to RE-ESTABLISH your OWN will in your
consciousness. You have IMPRISONED it in your UNconscious, where it remains available, but cannot help you. When we said
that the Holy Spirit's function is to sort out the true from the false in your unconscious, we meant that He has the power to look into
what YOU have
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(378) C 205
hidden, and perceive the Will of God there.
T 8 J 4. His perception of this will can make it real to YOU, because HE is in your mind, and therefore He IS your reality. If, then,
His perception OF your mind brings its reality TO you, He IS teaching you what you are. The only source of fear in this whole
process can ONLY be WHAT YOU THINK YOU LOSE. But it is only what the Holy Spirit sees that you can possibly HAVE. We
have emphasized many times that the Holy Spirit will never call upon you to sacrifice anything. But if you ask the sacrifice of
reality OF YOURSELVES, the Holy Spirit MUST remind you that this is not God's will BECAUSE it is not yours.
T 8 J 5. There is NO DIFFERENCE between your will and God's. If you did not have divided wills, you would recognize that
willing is salvation because it IS communication. It is impossible to communicate in alien tongues. You and your Creator can
communicate through creation, because that, and only that, IS your joint will. Divided wills do not communicate because they speak
for different things TO THE SAME MIND. This loses the ability to communicate, simply because confused communication DOES
NOT MEAN ANYTHING. A message cannot be said to be communicated UNLESS it makes sense.
T 8 J 6. How sensible can your messages be, when they ask for WHAT YOU DON't WANT? Yet as long as you are afraid of your
will, this is precisely what you WILL ask for. You may insist that the Holy Spirit does not answer you, but it might be wiser to
consider the kind of asker you are. YOU DO NOT ASK ONLY FOR WHAT YOU WANT. This is SOLELY because you are afraid
you might receive it, AND YOU WOULD. THIS is really why you persist in asking the teacher who could not possibly teach you
your will. Of him, you can never learn it, and this gives you the illusion of safety. But you cannot be safe FROM truth, but only IN
it. Reality is the ONLY safety.
T 8 J 7. Your will is your salvation BECAUSE IT IS THE SAME AS GOD's. The separation is nothing more than the belief that it
is DIFFERENT. NO mind can believe that its will is STRONGER than God's. If, then, a mind believes that ITS will is different
FROM His, it can only decide either that there IS no God, or that GOD's WILL IS FEARFUL. The former accounts for the atheist,
and the latter for the martyr. Martyrdom takes many forms, the category including ALL
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(379) C 206
doctrines which hold that God demands sacrifices of ANY kind.
T 8 J 8. Either basic type of insane decision will induce panic, because the atheist believes he is alone and the martyr believes that
God is crucifying him. Both really fear both abandonment AND retaliation, but the former is more reactive against abandonment
and the latter against retaliation. The atheist maintains that God has left him, but he does not care. He will, however, become very
fearful, and hence very ANGRY, if anyone suggests that God has NOT left him. The martyr, on the other hand, is more aware of
guilt, and believing that punishment is inevitable, attempts to teach himself to LIKE it.
T 8 J 9. The truth is, very simply, that NO-ONE WANTS EITHER ABANDONMENT OR RETALIATION. Many people SEEK
both, but it is still true that they do NOT want it. Can you ask the Holy Spirit for "gifts" such as these, and actually expect to
RECEIVE them? The Holy Spirit is totally incapable of giving YOU anything that does NOT come from God. His task is NOT to
make anything FOR you. He CANNOT make you want something you DON't want. When you ask the Universal Giver for what
you do not want, YOU are asking for what CANNOT be given, BECAUSE IT WAS NEVER CREATED. It was never created
because it was never your will for YOU.
T 8 J 10. Ultimately everyone must learn the will of God, because ultimately everyone must recognize HIMSELF. This recognition
IS the recognition that HIS WILL AND GOD's ARE ONE. In the presence of Truth, there are no unbelievers and no sacrifices. In
the security of Reality fear is totally meaningless. To deny what IS can only SEEM to be fearful. Fear cannot be real without a
cause, and GOD is the only Cause. God is Love, and you DO want Him. This IS your will. Ask for THIS and you WILL be
answered, because you will be asking only for what BELONGS to you.
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T 8 J 11. When you ask the Holy Spirit for what would hurt you, He CANNOT answer, because NOTHING can hurt you and SO
YOU ARE ASKING FOR NOTHING. ANY desire which stems from the ego IS a desire for nothing, and to ask for it IS NOT A
REQUEST. It is merely a denial in the FORM of a request. The Holy Spirit is not concerned with form at all, being aware only of
MEANING. The ego cannot ask the Holy Spirit for ANYTHING, because there is COMPLETE COMMUNICATION FAILURE
between them. But YOU can ask for EVERYTHING of the Holy Spirit, because YOUR requests are real, being of your will. Would
the Holy Spirit deny the Will of God? And could He fail to recognize it in God's Sons?
T 8 J 12. The energy which you withdraw from Creation you expend on fear. This is not because your ENERGY is limited, but
because YOU HAVE LIMITED IT. You do not recognize the ENORMOUS waste of energy which you expend in denying truth.
What would YOU say of someone who PERSISTED in attempting the impossible, and believed that to ACHIEVE it is SUCCESS?
The belief that you MUST HAVE THE IMPOSSIBLE in order to be happy is totally at variance with the principle of Creation. God
COULD not will that happiness DEPENDED on what you could never have.
T 8 J 13. The fact that God is love does not require belief, but it DOES require ACCEPTANCE. It is indeed possible for you to
DENY facts, although it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to CHANGE them. If you hold your hands over your eyes you will NOT see,
because you are interfering with the laws of seeing. If you deny love you will NOT KNOW IT because your cooperation is the
LAW OF ITS BEING. You cannot change laws you did not make, and the laws of happiness were created FOR you, NOT BY you.
T 8 J 14. Attempts of any kind to deny what IS are fearful, and if they are strong they WILL induce panic. WILLING AGAINST
reality, though impossible, can be MADE into a very persistent goal, EVEN THOUGH YOU DO NOT WANT IT. But consider the
result of this strange decision.
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You are DEVOTING your mind to what you DO NOT WANT. How real can this devotion be? If you do not want it, it was never
created. If it was never created, it is nothing. Can you REALLY devote yourself to nothing?
T 8 J 15. God, in His devotion to YOU, created you devoted to EVERYTHING, and GAVE you what you are devoted TO.
Otherwise, you would not have been created perfect. Reality IS everything, and you therefore have everything BECAUSE you are
real. You cannot make the UNreal because the ABSENCE of reality is fearful, and fear cannot BE created. As long as you believe
that fear is possible, YOU WILL NOT CREATE. Opposing orders of reality MAKE REALITY MEANINGLESS, and reality is
MEANING.
T 8 J 16. Remember, then, that God's Will is ALREADY possible, and nothing else will EVER be. This is the simple acceptance of
Reality because only this is real. You cannot DISTORT reality and KNOW WHAT IT IS. And if you DO distort reality you will
experience anxiety, depression, and ultimately panic, because you are trying to MAKE YOURSELF UNREAL. When you feel
these things do not try to look BEYOND yourself for truth, for truth can only be WITHIN you. Say, therefore, :
"Christ is in me, and where He is God MUST be, for Christ is PART of Him."
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T 8 K. The Answer to Prayer (*N 828 7:160)
T 8 K 1. Everyone who has ever tried to use prayer to request something, has experienced what appears to be failure. This is not
only true in connection with specific things which might be harmful, but also in connection with requests which are strictly in line
with this course. The latter, in particular, might be incorrectly interpreted as "proof" that the course does not mean what it says. But
you must remember that the course does state, and REPEATEDLY, that its purpose is the ESCAPE FROM FEAR.
T 8 K 2. Let us suppose, then, that what you request of the Holy Spirit IS what you really want, but that YOU ARE STILL AFRAID
OF IT. Should this be the case, your ATTAINMENT of it would no longer BE what you want, even if IT is. This accounts for why
CERTAIN SPECIFIC FORMS of healing are not achieved, even though the STATE of healing IS. It frequently happens that an
individual asks for physical healing, because he is fearful OF BODILY HARM. However, at the same time, if he WERE healed
physically, the threat to his thought-system would be considerably MORE fearful to him than its physical EXPRESSION. In this
case, he is not really asking for RELEASE from fear, but for the removal of a symptom WHICH HE HAS SELECTED. This
request is, therefore, NOT for healing at all.
T 8 K 3. The Bible emphasizes that ALL prayers are answered, and this must be true, if no effort is wasted. The very fact that one
has asked the Holy Spirit for ANYTHING, will ensure a response. But it is equally certain that no response, given by the Holy
Spirit, will EVER be one which would INCREASE fear. It is even possible that His answer will not be heard at all. It is IMpossible,
however, that it will be lost. There are many answers which you have already received, but have NOT YET HEARD. I assure you
that they are waiting for you. It is indeed true that no effort is wasted.
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T 8 K 4. If you would know your prayers are answered, never doubt a Son of God. Do not question him, and do not confound him,
for your faith in him is your faith in YOURSELF. If you would know God and His Answer, believe in me, whose faith in YOU
cannot be shaken. Can you ask of the Holy Spirit truly, and doubt your brother? Believe his words are true, because of the truth
which is in him. You will unite with the truth in him, and his words will BE true. As you hear him, you will hear me.
T 8 K 5. LISTENING to truth is the only way you can hear it now, and finally KNOW it. The message your brother gives you is UP
TO YOU. What does he say to you? What would YOU have him say? Your decision ABOUT him determines the message YOU
receive. Remember that the Holy Spirit is in him, and His Voice speaks to YOU through him. What can so holy a brother tell you
EXCEPT truth? But are you LISTENING to it?
T 8 K 6. Your brother may not know who he is, but there is a Light in his mind which DOES know. This Light can shine into yours,
making HIS words true, and you ABLE TO HEAR THEM. His words ARE the Holy Spirit's answer to YOU. Is your faith in him
strong enough to LET you listen and hear? Salvation is of your brother. The Holy Spirit extends from your mind to his, and answers
YOU. You cannot hear the Voice for God in yourself alone, because you are NOT alone. And His answer is only for what you ARE.
T 8 K 7. You will not know the trust I have in you, unless you EXTEND it. You will not trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit, or
believe that it is for YOU, unless you hear it in others.
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It MUST be for your brother, BECAUSE it is for you. Would God have created a Voice for you alone? Could you hear His answer
EXCEPT as He answers ALL of God's Sons? Hear of your brother what you would have me hear of YOU, for you would not want
ME to be deceived.
T 8 K 8. I love you for the truth in you, as GOD does. Your deceptions may deceive YOU, but they CANNOT deceive ME.
Knowing what you ARE, I CANNOT doubt you. I hear only the Holy Spirit in you, Who speaks to me through YOU. If you would
hear ME, hear my brothers, in whom God's Voice speaks. The answer to ALL your prayers lies in them. You will be answered as
you HEAR THE ANSWER IN EVERYONE. Do not listen to anything else, or you will not hear truth.
T 8 K 9. Believe in your brothers BECAUSE I believe in you, and you will learn that my belief in you is justified. Believe in me BY
believing in them, for the sake of what God gave them. THEY WILL ANSWER YOU, if you learn to ask truth of them. Do not ask
for blessings without blessing THEM, for only in this way can YOU learn how blessed YOU are. By following this way, you ARE
looking for the truth in YOU. This is not going BEYOND yourself, but TOWARD yourself. Hear only God's answer in His Sons,
and YOU are answered.
T 8 K 10. To disbelieve is to side AGAINST, or to ATTACK. To believe is to accept, and SIDE WITH. To believe is not to be
credulous, but to accept and APPRECIATE. What you do NOT believe you do NOT APPRECIATE, and you CANNOT be grateful
for what you do not VALUE. There is a price you will pay for judgment, because judgment IS the setting of price. And as you set it,
you WILL pay it.
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T 8 K 11. If paying is equated with GETTING, you will set the PRICE low, but demand a high RETURN. But you will have
forgotten that to price is to VALUE, so that YOUR return is IN PROPORTION TO YOUR JUDGMENT OF WORTH. If paying is
associated with giving, IT CANNOT BE PERCEIVED AS LOSS, and the RECIPROCAL relationship of giving and RECEIVING
will be recognized. The price will then be set high, because of the value of the RETURN.
T 8 K 12. To price for GETTING is to LOSE SIGHT OF VALUE, making it inevitable that you will NOT value what you receive.
Valuing it little, you will not appreciate it, and you will not WANT it. Never forget, then, that YOU have set the value on what you
receive, and have priced it BY what you give. To believe that it is possible to get much FOR little, is to believe that you can bargain
with God.
T 8 K 13. God's laws are ALWAYS fair, and PERFECTLY consistent. BY giving, you receive. But to receive is to ACCEPT, NOT
to get. It is impossible not to HAVE, but it IS possible NOT TO KNOW YOU HAVE. The recognition of HAVING is the
willingness for GIVING, and ONLY by this willingness, can you RECOGNIZE what you have. What you give is therefore the
value you put on what you have, being the exact measure of the value you PUT upon it. And this, in turn, is the measure of HOW
MUCH YOU WANT IT.
T 8 K 14. You can ASK of the Holy Spirit, then, ONLY by giving TO Him. And you can GIVE to Him only WHERE YOU SEE
HIM. If you SEE Him in everyone, consider how much you will be ASKING OF Him, and HOW MUCH YOU WILL RECEIVE.
He will deny you nothing, because you have denied Him nothing, and so you can SHARE EVERYTHING. This is the way, and the
ONLY way, to have His answer, because His answer is all you can ask for and WANT. Say, then, to everyone,
"Because I will to know myself, I see you as God's Son and my brother."
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CHAPTER 9 – THE CORRECTION OF ERROR
T 9 A. Introduction (*N 833 7:165)
T 9 A 1. The alertness of the ego to the errors which other egos make, is NOT the kind of vigilance which the Holy Spirit would
have you maintain. Egos are critical in terms of the kind of sense they STAND FOR. THEY understand this kind of sense, because
it IS sensible to them. To the Holy Spirit, it makes no sense at all. To the ego, it is kind and right and good to point out errors, and
"correct" them. This makes PERFECT sense to the ego, which is TOTALLY unaware of what errors ARE, and what correction IS.
T 9 A 2. Errors ARE the ego, and CORRECTION of errors of ANY kind lies solely in the RELINQUISHMENT of the ego. When
you CORRECT a brother, you are telling him that he is WRONG. He may be making no sense at the time, and it is certain that if he
is speaking from the ego, he WILL be making no sense, but your task is still to tell him HE IS RIGHT. You do not tell him this
verbally if he is SPEAKING foolishly, because he needs correction AT ANOTHER LEVEL, since his error IS at another level. HE
is still right, because he is a Son of God. His ego is ALWAYS wrong, no matter WHAT it says or does.
T 9 A 3. If you point out the errors of HIS ego, you MUST be seeing him through yours, because the Holy Spirit DOES NOT
PERCEIVE HIS ERRORS. This MUST be true, if there is no communication AT ALL between the ego and the Holy Spirit. The
ego makes NO sense, and the Holy Spirit does not attempt to understand ANYTHING that arises from it. Since He does not
understand it, He DOES NOT JUDGE IT, KNOWING that nothing it engenders MEANS ANYTHING.
T 9 B. Sanity and Perception (*N 834 7:166)
T 9 B 1. When you react AT ALL to errors, you are NOT LISTENING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. He has merely disregarded them,
and if you ATTEND to them, you are NOT HEARING HIM. If you do not hear HIM, you are listening to YOUR ego, and making
as little sense as the brother whose errors you perceive. This CANNOT be correction. But it is more than merely lack of correction
for him. It is the GIVING UP of correction in YOURSELF.
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T 9 B 2. When a brother behaves insanely, you can heal him ONLY by perceiving the SANITY in him. If you perceive his errors
and ACCEPT them, you are accepting YOURS. If you want to give YOURS over to the Holy Spirit, you must do this with HIS.
Unless this becomes the ONE way in which you handle ALL errors, you cannot understand HOW ALL ERRORS ARE UNDONE.
How is this different from telling you that what you teach you LEARN? Your brother is as right as you are. And if you think he is
WRONG, you are condemning YOURSELF.
T 9 B 3. YOU cannot correct YOURSELF. Is it possible, then, for you to correct another? But you CAN see him truly, because it IS
possible for you to see YOURSELF truly. It is not up to you to CHANGE him, but merely to accept him AS HE IS. His errors do
not come from the truth that is in him, and ONLY this truth is yours. His errors cannot change this, and can have no effect at all on
the truth in YOU.
T 9 B 4. To perceive errors in anyone, and to REACT to them AS IF THEY WERE REAL, is to MAKE them real to you. You will
not escape paying the price for this, NOT because you are being PUNISHED for it, but because you are following the wrong guide,
and will lose your way. Your brother's errors are not of him, any more than yours are OF YOU. Accept his errors as real, and you
have attacked YOURSELF. If you would find YOUR way AND KEEP IT, see only truth beside you, for you walk together.
T 9 B 5. The Holy Spirit in you forgives all things in you, AND your brother. HIS errors are forgiven WITH yours. Atonement is no
more separate than love. It CANNOT be separate, because it COMES from Love. ANY attempt you make to correct a brother,
means that you believe correction by YOU is possible, and this can ONLY be the arrogance of the ego. Correction is of God, Who
does not know of arrogance. The Holy Spirit forgives everything, BECAUSE GOD CREATED EVERYTHING. Do not undertake
HIS function, or you will forget YOURS.
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T 9 B 6. Accept ONLY the function of healing in time, because that is what time is FOR. GOD gave you the function to create in
eternity. You do not need to learn this. But you DO need to learn to WANT this, and for THIS all learning was made. This is the
Holy Spirit's good use of an ability which you do not need, but which you HAVE made. Give it to Him; you do NOT know how to
use it. He will teach you how to see YOURSELF without condemnation, by learning how to look on EVERYTHING without it.
Condemnation will then not be real to you, and all YOUR errors WILL be forgiven.
T 9 C. Atonement as a Lesson in Sharing (*N 838 7:170)
T 9 C 1. Atonement is for all, because it is the way to UNDO the belief that ANYTHING is for you ALONE. To forgive is to
OVERLOOK. Look, then, BEYOND error, and do not let your perception rest UPON it, for you will believe what your perception
HOLDS. Accept as true only what your brother IS, if you would know yourself. Perceive what he is NOT, and you CANNOT know
what you are, BECAUSE you see HIM falsely. Remember always that your identity is shared, and that its sharing IS its reality.
T 9 C 2. You have a PART to play in the Atonement. But the plan of the Atonement IS beyond you. You do not know how to
OVERLOOK errors, or you would not make them. It would merely be further error to think either that you do NOT make them, or
that you can CORRECT them without a GUIDE TO CORRECTION. And if you do not FOLLOW this Guide, your errors will NOT
be corrected. The plan is not yours BECAUSE of your limited ideas about WHAT YOU ARE. But this limitation IS where ALL
ERRORS ARISE. The way to UNDO them is, therefore, not OF you, but FOR you.
T 9 C 3. The Atonement is a lesson in sharing, which is given you because YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO DO IT. The Holy
Spirit merely reminds you of what is your NATURAL ability. By re-interpretING the ability to ATTACK, which you DID
make, into the ability to SHARE, He TRANSLATES what you have made, into what God created. But if you would accomplish this
THROUGH Him, you cannot look on your abilities through the eyes of the ego, or you will judge them as IT does. All their
harmfullness lies in ITS judgment.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(389) 216
All their HELPfullness lies in the judgment of the Holy Spirit.
T 9 C 4. The ego has a plan of forgiveness, because you are ASKING for one, but not of the right teacher. The EGO's plan, of
course, MAKES NO SENSE and WILL NOT WORK. By following it, you will merely place yourself in an impossible situation, to
which the ego ALWAYS leads you. Its plan is to have you SEE ERROR CLEARLY FIRST, and THEN overlook it. But how CAN
you overlook what you have made real? By seeing it clearly, you HAVE made it real, and CANNOT overlook it.
T 9 C 5. This is where the ego is forced into appealing to mysteries, and begins to insist that you accept the meaningless, to save
yourself. Many have tried to do this in my name, forgetting that my words make PERFECT sense, because they come from GOD.
They are as sensible now as they ever were, because they speak of ideas which are eternal. Forgiveness that is learned of ME does
not use fear to UNDO fear. Nor does it make real the UNreal, and then destroy it.
T 9 C 6. Forgiveness through the Holy Spirit lies simply in looking beyond error from the beginning, and thus KEEPING it unreal
for you. Do not let any belief in its realness enter your minds AT ALL, or you will also believe that you must UNDO what you have
made, in order to BE forgiven. What has no effect does not exist, and to the Holy Spirit, the effects of error are TOTALLY
non-existent. By steadily and consistently canceling out ALL its effects, EVERYWHERE AND IN ALL RESPECTS, He teaches that
the ego does not exist, and PROVES IT. Follow His teaching in forgiveness, then, because forgiveness IS His function, and HE
knows how to fulfill it perfectly.
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(390) 217
That is what we meant when we once said that miracles are NATURAL, and when they do NOT occur, something has gone wrong.
Miracles are merely the sign of your willingness to follow HIS plan of Salvation, in recognition of the FACT that you do NOT
know what it is. His work is NOT your function, and unless you accept this, you CANNOT learn what your function IS.
T 9 C 7. The confusion of functions is so typical of the ego, that you should be quite familiar with it by now. The ego believes that
ALL functions belong to IT, even though it has no idea what they ARE. This is more than mere confusion. It is a particularly
dangerous combination of grandiosity AND confusion, that makes it likely that the ego will attack anyone and anything, for no
reason at all. This is exactly what it DOES. It is TOTALLY unpredictable in its responses, because it has no idea WHAT it heard.
T 9 C 8. If one has no idea what is happening, how appropriately can you EXPECT him to react? But you might still ask yourself,
regardless of how you can ACCOUNT for the reactions, whether they place the ego in a very sound position as a guide for YOURS.
It seems absurd to have to emphasize repeatedly that the ego's qualifications as a guide are singularly unfortunate, and that it is a
remarkably poor choice as a teacher of salvation. Yet this question, ridiculous as it seems, is REALLY the crucial issue in the whole
separation fantasy.
T 9 C 9. Anyone who elects a totally insane guide, MUST be totally insane himself. It is not true that you do not know the guide is
insane. YOU know it because I know it, and you HAVE judged it by the same Standard as I have. The ego literally lives on
borrowed time, and ITS days ARE numbered. Do not fear the last judgment, but welcome it and do not wait, for the ego's time is
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(391) 218
borrowed from YOUR eternity. This IS the Second Coming, which was made FOR you, as the First was created.
T 9 C 10. The Second Coming is merely the return of SENSE. Can this POSSIBLY be fearful? What can be fearful but fantasy, and
no-one turns to fantasy unless he despairs of satisfaction in reality. But it is CERTAIN that he will NEVER find satisfaction in
fantasy, so that his ONLY hope is to change his mind about REALITY. Only if the decision that reality is fearful is WRONG, can
GOD be right. And I ASSURE you that God IS right.
T 9 C 11. Be glad, then, that you HAVE been wrong, but this was only because you did not know who you WERE. Had you
REMEMBERED, you could no more have been wrong than God can. The impossible can happen ONLY in fantasy. When you
search for reality in fantasies, you will not find it. The symbols of fantasy are of the ego, and of THESE you will find many. But do
not look for meaning in them. They have no more meaning than the fantasies into which they are woven.
T 9 C 12. Fairy tales can be pleasant or fearful, pretty or ugly, but NO-ONE calls them TRUE. Children may believe them, and so,
for a while, they ARE true for them. But when Reality dawns, they are gone. REALITY has NOT gone in the meanwhile. The
Second Coming is the AWARENESS of Reality, not its RETURN. Behold, my children, Reality is here. It belongs to you and me
and God, and is perfectly satisfying to all of us. Only THIS awareness heals, because it is the awareness of truth.
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T 9 D. The Unhealed Healer (*N 846 7:178)
T 9 D 1. The ego's plan for forgiveness is far more widely used than God's. This is because it is undertaken by unhealed healers,
and IS therefore of the ego. Let us consider the unhealed healer more carefully now. By definition, he is trying to GIVE what he has
NOT received. If he is a theologian, he may begin with the premise, "I am a miserable sinner, and so are you." If he is a
psychotherapist, he is more likely to start with the equally incredible idea that HE really believes in attack, and so does the patient,
but it does not matter in EITHER case.
T 9 D 2. We have repeatedly stated that beliefs of the ego CANNOT be shared, and THIS IS WHY THEY ARE NOT REAL. How,
then, can UNCOVERING them MAKE them real? Every healer who searches fantasies for truth MUST be unhealed, because he
DOES NOT KNOW WHERE TO LOOK FOR TRUTH, and therefore does not have the answer to the problem of healing. There IS
an advantage to bringing nightmares into awareness, but ONLY to teach that they are NOT real, and that ANYTHING they contain
is meaningless. The unhealed healer cannot DO this, because he does not BELIEVE it.
T 9 D 3. All unhealed healers follow the ego's plan for forgiveness, in one form or another. If they are theologians, they are likely to
condemn THEMSELVES, TEACH condemnation, and advocate a very fearful solution. Projecting condemnation onto God, they
make Him retaliative, and FEAR HIS RETRIBUTION. What they have done is merely to IDENTIFY with the ego, and by
perceiving clearly what IT does, condemn THEMSELVES because of this profound confusion.
T 9 D 4. It is understandable that there has been a revolt against this concept, but to revolt AGAINST it, is still to BELIEVE in it.
The FORM of the revolt, then, is different, but NOT the content.
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The new form of the ego's plan is as unhelpful as the older one, because form does not matter to the Holy Spirit, and therefore
DOES NOT MATTER AT ALL. According to the newer forms of the plan, the therapist interprets the ego's symbols IN the
nightmare, and uses them to PROVE THE NIGHTMARE IS REAL. Having MADE it real, he then attempts to dispel its EFFECTS
by DEPRECIATING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DREAMER.
T 9 D 5. This WOULD be a healing approach, IF THE DREAMER were properly identified AS UNREAL. But if the dreamer is
equated WITH the mind, the mind's corrective power, through the Holy Spirit, is DENIED. It is noteworthy that this is a
contradiction even in the ego's own terms, and one which it usually DOES note, even in its confusion. If the way to counteract fear
is to reduce the importance of the FEARER, how can this build up ego STRENGTH? These perfectly self-evident inconsistencies
account for why, except for certain stylized verbal accounts, NOBODY can EXPLAIN what happens in psychotherapy. Nothing
real DOES.
T 9 D 6. Nothing REAL has happened to the unhealed healer, and HE LEARNS FROM HIS OWN TEACHING. BECAUSE his
ego is involved, it ALWAYS attempts to gain some support from the situation. Seeking to GET something for HIMSELF, the healer
does NOT know how to give, and consequently CANNOT SHARE. He CANNOT correct, because he is not working
CORRECTIVELY. He believes that it is up to him to teach the patient what is REAL, but he does not know it HIMSELF.
T 9 D 7. What, then, SHOULD happen? When God said: "Let there be Light," there WAS light. Can you find light by
ANALYZING darkness as the psychotherapist does, or like the theologian, by ACKNOWLEDGING it in yourself, and looking for
a distant light to remove it, while emphasizing the distance?
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T 9 D 8. Healing is NOT mysterious. Nothing occurs UNLESS you understand it, since light IS understanding. A "miserable
sinner" cannot be healed without magic, nor can an "unimportant mind" esteem itself without magic. Both forms of the ego's
approach, then, MUST arrive at an impasse, the characteristic "impossible situation" to which the ego ALWAYS leads.
T 9 D 9. It CAN be helpful to point out to a patient WHERE HE IS HEADING, but the point is LOST unless he can change his
direction. The therapist cannot do this for him, but he also CANNOT DO THIS FOR HIMSELF. His only MEANINGFUL
contribution is to present an example of one whose direction has been changed FOR him, and who NO LONGER BELIEVES IN
NIGHTMARES OF ANY KIND. The light in HIS mind will therefore ANSWER the questioner, who MUST decide with God that
there IS light BECAUSE HE SEES IT. And by HIS acknowledgment, THE THERAPIST KNOWS IT IS THERE.
T 9 D 10. That is how perception ultimately is translated into knowledge. The miracle-worker begins by PERCEIVING light, and
translates HIS perception into sureness by continually extending it, and ACCEPTING ITS ACKNOWLEDGMENT. Its EFFECTS
assure him IT IS THERE. The therapist does not heal; he LETS HEALING BE. HE can point to darkness, but he CANNOT bring
light OF HIMSELF, for light is NOT of him. But being FOR him, it MUST be for his patient.
T 9 D 11. The Holy Spirit is the ONLY therapist. He makes healing PERFECTLY clear in ANY situation in which He is the guide.
The human therapist can only LET HIM FULFILL HIS FUNCTION. He needs no help for this. He WILL tell you EXACTLY what
to do, to help ANYONE He sends to you FOR help, and will speak to him through you, IF YOU DO NOT INTERFERE.
Remember that you
--- Urtext Manuscript Page --- T(395) 222
ARE choosing a guide for helping, and the wrong choice will NOT help. But remember also that THE RIGHT ONE WILL. Trust
Him, for help is His function, and He is of God.
T 9 D 12. As you awaken other minds TO Him through HIM, and not yourself, you will understand that you are not obeying the
laws of this world, but that the laws you ARE obeying WORK. "The good is what works" is a sound though insufficient statement.
ONLY the good CAN work. Nothing else works at all. This course is a guide to behavior. Being a very direct and very simple
learning situation, it provides the guide who tells you what to do. If you do it, you will SEE that it works. Its RESULTS are more
convincing than its words. THEY will convince you that the words are true.
T 9 D 13. By following the right Guide, you will learn the simplest of all lessons: "By their fruits ye shall know them, and THEY
shall know THEMSELVES".
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T 9 E. The Awareness of the Holy Spirit (*N 854 7:186)
T 9 E 1. How can you become increasingly aware of the Holy Spirit in you, EXCEPT by His EFFECTS? You cannot see Him with
your eyes, nor hear Him with your ears. How, then, can you perceive Him at all? If you INSPIRE joy, and others react to you WITH
joy, even though you are not experiencing joy yourself, there must be SOMETHING IN YOU that IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
IT. If it is in YOU, and CAN produce joy, and if you see that it DOES produce joy in others, you MUST be dissociating it in
yourself.
T 9 E 2. It seems to you that the Holy Spirit does not produce joy consistently in you, ONLY because YOU DO NOT
CONSISTENTLY AROUSE JOY IN OTHERS. Their reactions to you ARE your evaluations of His consistency. When you are
inconsistent, you will not always GIVE RISE to joy, and so you will not always recognize HIS consistency. What you offer to your
brother, you offer to Him, because He cannot GO BEYOND your offering in HIS giving. This is NOT because HE limits His
giving, but simply because YOU have limited your RECEIVING.
T 9 E 3. The will to receive is the will to accept. If your brothers ARE part of you, will you ACCEPT them? Only they can teach
you what you are, and your learning is the result of what you taught THEM. What you call upon in them, you call upon in
YOURSELF. And as you call upon it IN THEM, it becomes real to YOU. God has but one Son, knowing them all as One. Only
God Himself is more than they, but they are not less than He is. Would you know what this means? If what you do to my brother
you do to me, and if you do everything for yourself because we are PART of you, everything WE do belongs to you as well. Every
Soul God created is part of you, and shares His glory WITH you.
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T 9 E 4. His glory belongs to Him, but it is equally YOURS. You cannot, then, BE less glorious than He is. He is more than you
ONLY because He CREATED you, but not even this would He keep from you. Therefore, you CAN create as He did, and YOUR
dissociation WILL NOT ALTER THIS. Neither God's Light nor YOURS is dimmed because you do not see.
T 9 E 5. Because the Sonship MUST create as one, you remember creation whenever you recognize part of creation. Each part you
remember adds to YOUR wholeness, because each part IS whole. Wholeness is indivisible, but you cannot learn YOUR wholeness,
UNTIL YOU SEE IT EVERYWHERE. You can know yourself only as God knows His Son, for KNOWLEDGE is shared WITH
God. When you awake in Him, you will know your magnitude by accepting HIS limitlessness as YOURS. But meanwhile, you will
judge it as you judge your brothers’, and will accept it as you accept theirs.
T 9 E 6. You are not yet awake, but you can learn HOW to awaken. Very simply the Holy Spirit teaches you to awaken others. As
you see them waken, you will learn WHAT WAKING MEANS. And because you have willed to wake them, their gratitude, and
their appreciation of what you have given them, will TEACH YOU ITS VALUE. THEY will become the witnesses to your reality,
as YOU were created witnesses to God's. But when the Sonship COMES TOGETHER and accepts its oneness, it will be known by
ITS creations, who witness to its reality, as the Son does to the Father.
T 9 E 7. Miracles have no place in eternity because they are reparative. But while you still need healing, your miracles are the only
witnesses to your reality THAT YOU CAN RECOGNIZE.
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You cannot perform a miracle FOR YOURSELF, because miracles are a way of GIVING ACCEPTANCE AND receiving it. In
TIME, the giving comes FIRST, though they are simultaneous in eternity, where they cannot BE separated. When you have learned
that they ARE the same, the need for time is over. Eternity is ONE time, its ONLY dimension being "always."
T 9 E 8. But this cannot mean anything to you, until you remember God's open arms, and finally know His open Mind. Like Him,
YOU are ALWAYS, in His Mind, and with a mind like His. In your open mind are YOUR creations, in perfect communication,
born of perfect understanding. Could you but accept one of them, you would not want ANYTHING the world has to offer.
Everything else would be totally meaningless. God's meaning is incomplete without you, and you are incomplete without your
creations.
T 9 E 9. Accept your brother in this world, and accept NOTHING ELSE, for in him you will find your creations, because he created
them WITH you. You will never know that you are co-creator with God, until you learn that your brother is a co-creator with YOU.
T 9 F. Salvation and God's Will (*N 858 7:190)
T 9 F 1. God's Will is your salvation. Would He not have given you the means to find it? If He wills you to HAVE it, He MUST
have made it possible, and very easy to obtain it.
T 9 F 2. Your brothers are everywhere. You do not have to seek far for salvation. Every minute and every second gives you a
chance to save YOURSELF. Do not lose these chances, NOT because they will not return, but because delay of joy is needless. God
wills you perfect happiness NOW. Is it possible that this is not also YOUR will? And is it possible that this is not ALSO the will of
your brothers? Consider, then, that in this joint will, you ARE all united, and IN THIS ONLY. There WILL be disagreement on
anything ELSE, but NOT in this. This, then, is where peace ABIDES. And YOU abide in peace, when you so decide.
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T 9 F 3. But you cannot abide in peace unless you accept the Atonement, because the Atonement IS the way to peace. The reason is
very simple, and so obvious that it is often overlooked. That is because the ego is AFRAID of the obvious, since obviousness is the
essential characteristic of reality. You CANNOT overlook it, unless you are NOT LOOKING. It is PERFECTLY obvious that if the
Holy Spirit looks with love on all He perceives, He looks with love on YOU. His EVALUATION of you is based on his knowledge
of what you ARE, and so He evaluates you truly. And this evaluation MUST be in your mind, because HE is.
T 9 F 4. The ego is also in your mind, because you have ACCEPTED it there. ITS evaluation of you, however, is the exact opposite
of the Holy Spirit's, because the ego does NOT love you. It is unaware of what you are, and wholly mistrustful of EVERYTHING it
perceives, because its own perceptions are so shifting. The ego is therefore capable of suspiciousness at best, and viciousness at
worst. That is its range. It cannot exceed it, because of its uncertainty. And it can never go BEYOND it, because it can never BE
certain.
T 9 F 5. You, then, have two conflicting evaluations of yourself in your minds, and they CANNOT BOTH BE TRUE. You do not
yet realize how COMPLETELY different these evaluations are, because you do not understand how lofty the Holy Spirit's
perception of you really is. He is not deceived by ANYTHING you do, because He NEVER forgets what you are. The ego is
deceived by EVERYTHING you do, even when you respond to the Holy Spirit, because at such times ITS CONFUSION
INCREASES. The ego is, therefore, particularly likely to attack you when you react lovingly, because it has evaluated you AS
UNLOVING, and you are going AGAINST ITS JUDGMENT.
T 9 F 6. The ego will begin to ATTACK your motives as soon as they become clearly out of accord with its perception of you. This
is when it will shift abruptly from suspiciousness to viciousness, because its uncertainty is
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INCREASED. But it is surely pointless to attack in return. What can this mean, except that you are AGREEING with the ego's
evaluation of what you are? If you are willing to see yourself as unloving, YOU WILL NOT BE HAPPY. You are condemning
yourself, and MUST therefore regard yourself as inadequate.
T 9 F 7. Would you look to the ego to help you escape from a sense of inadequacy it has PRODUCED, and must MAINTAIN for its
own existence? Can you ESCAPE from its evaluation of you, by using its methods for keeping this picture INTACT? You cannot
evaluate an insane belief system from WITHIN it. Its own range precludes this. You can only GO BEYOND it, and look back from
a point where SANITY exists, and SEE THE CONTRAST. Only BY this contrast, can insanity be judged as insane.
T 9 F 8. With the grandeur of God in you, you have chosen to be little, and lament your littleness. Within the system which
DICTATED this choice, the lament IS inevitable. Your littleness is TAKEN FOR GRANTED there, and you do NOT ask who
granted it. The question is meaningless WITHIN the ego's thought-system, because it OPENS THE WHOLE THOUGHT-SYSTEM
TO QUESTION. We said before that the ego does not know what a real question is. Lack of knowledge of ANY kind is
ALWAYS associated with UNWILLINGNESS to know, and produces a TOTAL lack of knowledge, simply because
KNOWLEDGE is total. NOT to question your littleness is, therefore, to deny ALL knowledge, and keep the ego's WHOLE
thought-system intact.
T 9 F 9. You cannot retain PART of a thought-system, because it can BE questioned only at its foundation. And this MUST be
questioned from beyond it, because WITHIN it, its foundation DOES stand. The Holy Spirit judges against the reality of the ego's
thought-system, merely because He knows its FOUNDATION is not true. Therefore, nothing that arises from it MEANS anything.
The Holy Spirit judges every belief you hold in terms of where it comes from. If it comes from God,
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He knows it to be true. If it does not, He knows it is meaningless.
T 9 F 10. Whenever you question your value, say, "God Himself is incomplete without me." Remember this when the ego speaks,
and you will not hear it. The truth about YOU is so lofty that nothing that is unworthy of God is worthy of you. Choose, then, what
you want in these terms, and accept nothing that you would not offer to God as wholly fitting for HIM, for YOU do not want
anything else. Return your part of Him, and He will give you all of Himself, in exchange for your return of what belongs to Him,
and renders Him complete.
T 9 G. Grandeur versus Grandiosity (*N 865 7:197)
T 9 G 1. Grandeur is of God, and ONLY of Him. Therefore, it is in you. Whenever you become aware of it, however dimly, you
abandon the ego automatically, because in the presence of the grandeur of God, the meaninglessness of the ego becomes perfectly
apparent. Though it does not understand this, the ego believes that its "enemy" has struck, and attempts to offer gifts to induce you
to return to its protection. SELF-inflation is the only offering it can make. The grandiosity of the ego is its alternative to the
grandeur of God. Which will you choose?
T 9 G 2. Grandiosity is ALWAYS a cover for despair. It is without hope, because it is not real. It is an attempt to COUNTERACT
your littleness, based on the belief THAT THE LITTLENESS IS REAL. WITHOUT this belief, the grandiosity is meaningless, and
you could not possibly WANT it. The essence of grandiosity is competitiveness, because it ALWAYS involves ATTACK. It is a
delusional attempt to OUTDO, but NOT to UNdo. We said before that the ego vacillates between suspiciousness and viciousness. It
remains suspicious as long as you DESPAIR of yourself. It shifts to viciousness whenever you will not tolerate self-debasement,
and seek relief. Then it offers you the delusion of ATTACK as a solution.
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T 9 G 3. The ego does not know the difference between grandeur and grandiosity, because it does not know the difference between
miracle-impulses and ego-alien beliefs of its own. We once said that the ego IS aware of threat, but does NOT make distinctions
between two ENTIRELY different kinds of threat to its existence. Its own PROFOUND sense of vulnerability renders it incapable
of judgment, EXCEPT in terms of attack. When it experiences threat, its ONLY decision is whether to attack NOW, or withdraw to
attack later. If you ACCEPT its offer of grandiosity, it will attack immediately. If you do not, it will wait.
T 9 G 4. The ego is immobilized in the presence of God's grandeur, because HIS grandeur establishes YOUR freedom. Even the
faintest hint of your reality literally drives the ego from your mind, because of the complete lack of investment in it. Grandeur is
totally WITHOUT illusion, and because it is real, it is compellingly convincing. But the conviction of reality will not REMAIN with
you, UNLESS YOU DO NOT ALLOW THE EGO TO ATTACK IT.
T 9 G 5. The ego will make every effort to recover, and mobilize its energies AGAINST your release. It will tell you that you are
insane, and argue that grandeur CANNOT be a real part of you, because of the littleness in which IT believes. But your grandeur is
NOT delusional, BECAUSE YOU DID NOT MAKE IT. YOU have made grandiosity, and are afraid of it, because it is a form of
ATTACK. But your grandeur is of God, who created it out of His love. From your grandeur you can only bless, because your
grandeur is your ABUNDANCE. By blessing you hold it in your minds, protecting it from illusions, and keeping yourself in the
Mind of God.
T 9 G 6. Remember always that you cannot be anywhere EXCEPT in the Mind of God. When you FORGET this, you WILL
despair, and you WILL attack. The ego depends SOLELY on your willingness to tolerate it. But if you are willing to look upon your
grandeur, you CANNOT despair, and therefore you CANNOT want the ego. Your grandeur is God's ANSWER to the ego, because
it is true.
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Littleness and grandeur cannot co-exist, nor is it possible for them to alternate in your awareness. Littleness and grandiosity can and
MUST, since both are untrue, and therefore on the same level. Being the level of shift, it is experienced as shifting, and extremes are
its essential characteristic.
T 9 G 7. But truth and littleness are DENIALS of each other, and grandeur IS truth. Truth does not vacillate; it is ALWAYS true.
When grandeur slips away from you, YOU HAVE REPLACED IT WITH SOMETHING YOU HAVE MADE. Perhaps it is the
belief in littleness; perhaps it is the belief in grandiosity. But it MUST be insane, because it is NOT TRUE. Your grandeur will
NEVER deceive you, but your illusions ALWAYS will. Illusions ARE deceptions.
T 9 G 8. You CANNOT triumph, but you ARE exalted. And in your exalted state, you seek others like you, and rejoice with them.
It is easy to distinguish grandeur from grandiosity, simply because love is returned, but pride is not. Pride will not produce miracles,
and therefore will deprive you of the true witnesses to your reality. Truth is not obscure nor hidden, but its obviousness to YOU lies
in the joy you bring to its witnesses, WHO SHOW IT TO YOU. They attest to your grandeur, but they cannot attest to pride because
pride is not shared.
T 9 G 9. God WANTS you to behold what He created, because it is HIS joy. Can your grandeur be arrogant, when God HIMSELF
witnesses to it? And what can be real that has NO witnesses? What good can come of it? And if no good can come of it, the Holy
Spirit cannot use it. What He cannot TRANSFORM to the Will of God does not exist at all. Grandiosity is delusional because it is
used to REPLACE your grandeur. Yet what God has created cannot BE replaced.
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T 9 G 10. God is incomplete without you, simply because His grandeur is total, and you cannot BE missing from it. You are
altogether irreplaceable in the Mind of God. No-one else can fill your part of it, and while you leave your part of it empty, your
eternal place merely waits for your return. God, through His Voice, reminds you of it, and God Himself keeps your extensions safe
within it. But YOU do not know them, until you return TO them.
T 9 G 11. You CANNOT replace the Kingdom, and you cannot replace yourself. God, Who KNOWS your value, would not have it
so, and so it is NOT so. Your value is in GOD's Mind, and therefore NOT in yours alone. To accept yourself as He created you
CANNOT be arrogant, because it is the DENIAL of arrogance. To accept your littleness IS arrogant, because it means that you
believe that YOUR evaluation of yourself is TRUER THAN GOD's. But if truth is indivisible, then YOUR evaluation of yourself
MUST BE GOD's.
T 9 G 12. You did not ESTABLISH your value, and it needs no defense. NOTHING can attack it, or prevail over it. It does not
vary. It merely IS. Ask the Holy Spirit WHAT it is, and He will tell you. But do not be afraid of His Answer, for it comes from God.
It IS an exalted answer, because of its Source. But the Source is true, and so is its answer. Listen and do not question what you hear,
for God does not deceive. He would have you replace the ego's belief in littleness with His own exalted answer to the question of
your being, so that you can cease to question it, and KNOW it for what it IS.
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T 9 H. The Inclusiveness of Creation (*N 873 7:205)
T 9 H 1. NOTHING beyond yourself can make you fearful or loving, because nothing IS beyond you. Time and eternity are both in
your minds, and WILL conflict, until you perceive time SOLELY as a means to REGAIN eternity. You cannot do this, as long as
you believe that ANYTHING that happens to you is caused by factors OUTSIDE yourself. You must learn that time is solely at
YOUR disposal, and that nothing in the world can take this responsibility FROM you. You can VIOLATE God's laws in your
imagination, but you cannot escape from them. They were established for your protection, and are as inviolate as your safety.
T 9 H 2. God created nothing beside you, and nothing beside you exists, for you are part of Him. What except Him CAN exist?
Nothing BEYOND Him can happen, because nothing EXCEPT Him is real. YOUR creations add to Him, as YOU do. But nothing
is added that is different, because everything has always BEEN. What can upset you except the ephemeral, and how can the
ephemeral be real, if you are God's ONLY creation, and He created you eternal?
T 9 H 3. Your holy will establishes EVERYTHING that happens to you. Every response you make, to everything you perceive, is
up to you, because your will DETERMINES your perception of it. God does not change His Mind about YOU, for He is not
uncertain of HIMSELF. And what He knows CAN be known, because He does not know only for Himself. He CREATED you for
Himself, but He gave you the power to create for YOUR self, so you would be LIKE Him. That is why your will is holy.
T 9 H 4. Can anything EXCEED the love of God? Can anything, then, exceed YOUR will? Nothing can reach you from BEYOND
it, because being in God, YOU encompass everything. Believe this, and you will realize how much IS up to you. When
ANYTHING threatens your peace of mind, ask yourself "Has God changed His Mind about me?" Then ACCEPT His decision, for
it is indeed changeless, and refuse to change your mind about YOURSELF.
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God will never decide AGAINST you, or He would be deciding against Himself.
T 9 H 5. The reason you do not know YOUR creations is simply that you would decide against them, as long as your minds are
split, and to attack what you have created is impossible. But remember that IT IS AS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD. The law of
Creation is that you love your creations as yourself, BECAUSE THEY ARE PART OF YOU. Everything that was created is
therefore PERFECTLY safe, because the laws of God protect it by His love. Any part of your mind that does not know this, has
banished itself from knowledge, because it has NOT MET ITS CONDITIONS.
T 9 H 6. Who could have done this but you? Recognize this gladly, for in this recognition lies the realization that your banishment is
not of God, and therefore does not exist. You are at home in God, dreaming of exile, but perfectly capable of awakening to Reality.
Is it your will to do so? You know, from your own experience, that what you see in dreams you think is real, as long as you are
asleep. But the instant you waken, you KNOW that everything that SEEMED to happen DID NOT HAPPEN AT ALL. You do not
think this mysterious, even though ALL the laws of what you awake to WERE violated while you slept.
T 9 H 7. Is it not possible that you merely shifted from one dream to another without really wakening? Would you bother to
reconcile what happened in conflicting DREAMS, or would you dismiss BOTH TOGETHER, if you discovered that REALITY is
in accord with neither? You do not remember being awake. When you hear the Holy Spirit, you merely feel BETTER, because
loving seems POSSIBLE to you. But you do NOT remember yet that it once was so, and it is in this remembering that you will
know it can be so again.
T 9 H 8. What is possible has not yet been accomplished. But what has once been is so now, if it is eternal. When you remember,
you will know what you remember IS eternal, and therefore is NOW.
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T 9 H 9. You will remember everything the instant you DESIRE IT WHOLLY, for if to desire wholly is to create, you will have
willed away the separation, returning your mind simultaneously to your Creator and your creations. Knowing them, you will have
no wish to sleep, but only the will to waken and be glad. Dreams will be impossible, because you will WANT only truth, and being
at last your will, it will be yours.
T 9 I. The Decision to Forget (*N 877 7:209)
T 9 I 1. Unless you KNOW something, you CANNOT dissociate it. Knowledge therefore PRECEDES dissociation, and dissociation
is nothing more than a DECISION TO FORGET. What has been FORGOTTEN then appears to be fearful, but ONLY because the
dissociation was an ATTACK ON TRUTH. You are fearful because you have forgotten. And you have REPLACED your
knowledge by an awareness of dreams, BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID OF YOUR DISSOCIATION, NOT of what you have
dissociated. Even in this world's therapy, when dissociated material is ACCEPTED, it ceases to be fearful, for the laws of mind
always hold.
T 9 I 2. But to give up the dissociation of REALITY brings more than merely lack of fear. In THIS decision lie joy, and peace, and
the glory of creation. Offer the Holy Spirit only your will to remember, for He retains the knowledge of God and of you FOR you,
waiting for your acceptance. Give up gladly EVERYTHING that would stand in the way of your remembering, for God is in your
memory, and His Voice will tell you that you are part of Him when you are willing to remember Him and know your own reality
again. Let nothing in this world delay your remembering of Him, for in this remembering is the knowledge of YOURSELF.
T 9 I 3. To remember is merely to restore to your mind WHAT IS ALREADY THERE. You do not make what you remember; you
merely accept again what has been made AND REJECTED. The ability to ACCEPT truth in this world is the perceptual counterpart
of creating in the Kingdom. God WILL do His part
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if you will do yours, and HIS return in exchange for yours is the exchange of knowledge for perception. NOTHING is beyond His
will for you. But signify your will to remember Him, and behold! He will give you everything but for your asking.
T 9 I 4. Whenever you attack, you are denying YOURSELF. You are specifically teaching yourself that you are NOT what you are.
YOUR denial of reality precludes ACCEPTANCE of God's gift, BECAUSE YOU HAVE ACCEPTED SOMETHING ELSE IN
ITS PLACE. If you understand that the misuse of defenses always constitutes an attack on truth, and truth is God, you will realize
why this is ALWAYS fearful. If you further recognize that you are PART of God, you will also understand why it is that YOU
ALWAYS ATTACK YOURSELF FIRST.
T 9 I 5. ALL attack is self attack. It cannot BE anything else. Arising from your OWN decision NOT to be what you ARE, IT IS
AN ATTACK ON YOUR IDENTIFICATION. Attack is thus the way in which your identification is lost, because, when you
attack, you MUST have forgotten what you are. And if your reality is God's, when YOU attack, you are not remembering HIM.
This is not because He is gone, but because you are ACTIVELY WILLING NOT TO REMEMBER HIM.
T 9 I 6. If you realized the complete havoc this makes of your peace of mind, you COULD not make such an insane decision. You
make it only because you still believe that it can GET YOU SOMETHING YOU WANT. It follows, then, that you want something
OTHER than peace of mind, and you have not considered what it must be. Yet the logical outcome of your decision is perfectly
clear, if you will LOOK at it. By deciding AGAINST your reality, you have made yourself vigilant AGAINST God and His
Kingdom. And it is THIS vigilance that makes you afraid to remember Him.
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T 9 I 7. You have NOT attacked God, and you DO love Him. Can you change your reality? No-one can will to destroy himself.
When you think you are attacking your SELF, it is a sure sign that you hate what you think you are. And this, and ONLY this, can
BE attacked by you. What you THINK you are CAN be hateful, and what this strange image makes you do can be very destructive.
The destruction is no more real than the image, but those who make idols DO worship them. The idols are nothing, but their
worshippers are the Sons of God in sickness.
T 9 I 8. God would have them released from their sickness, and returned to His Mind. He will not limit your power to help them,
because He has given it TO you. Do not be afraid of it, because it is your salvation. What Comforter can there be for the sick
children of God except His power through YOU? Remember that it does not matter where in the Sonship He is accepted. He is
ALWAYS accepted for all, and when your mind receives Him, the remembrance of Him awakens throughout the Sonship.
T 9 I 9. Heal your brothers simply by accepting God FOR them. Your minds are not separate, and God has only one channel for
healing, because He has but one Son. His remaining communication link with all His Children joins them together, and them to
Him. To be aware of this is to heal them, because it is the awareness that no-one is separate, and so no-one is sick. To believe that a
Son of God can be sick is to believe that PART OF GOD CAN SUFFER.
T 9 I 10. Love CANNOT suffer, because it cannot attack. The remembrance of love therefore brings invulnerability with it. Do not
side with sickness in the presence of a Son of God, even if HE believes in it, for YOUR acceptance of God in him
ACKNOWLEDGES the love of God which he has forgotten. Your recognition of him as PART OF GOD teaches him the truth
about himself, WHICH HE IS DENYING. Would you STRENGTHEN his denial of God, and thus lose sight of YOURSELF? Or
would you remind him of his wholeness, and remember your Creator WITH him?
T 9 I 11. To believe a Son of God is sick is to worship the same idol he does. God created love, NOT idolatry. ALL forms of
idolatry are caricatures of
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creation, taught by sick minds, who are too divided to know that Creation SHARES power, and NEVER usurps it. Sickness is
idolatry, because it is the belief that POWER CAN BE TAKEN FROM YOU. But this is impossible, because you are part of God,
Who IS all power. A sick god MUST be an idol, made in the image of what its maker thinks HE is. And that is exactly what the ego
DOES perceive in a Son of God; -- a sick god, self-created, self-sufficient, very vicious, and very vulnerable.
T 9 I 12. Is this the idol you would worship? Is this the image you would be vigilant to SAVE? Are you REALLY afraid of losing
THIS? Look calmly at the logical conclusion of the ego's thought-system, and judge whether its offering is really what you want,
for this IS what it offers you. To obtain THIS, you are willing to attack the Divinity of your brothers, and thus lose sight of YOURS.
And you are willing to keep it hidden, to protect this idol, which you think will save you from dangers WHICH THE IDOL ITSELF
STANDS FOR, but which do not exist.
T 9 I 13. There are no idolaters in the Kingdom, but there is great appreciation for every Soul which God created, because of the
calm knowledge that each one is part of Him. God's Son knows no idols, but He DOES know His Father. Health in this world is the
counterpart of value in Heaven. It is not my merit that I contribute to you, but my love, for you do not value yourselves. When you
do not value yourself you become sick, but MY value of you can heal you, because the value of God's Son is one.
T 9 I 14. When I said, "my peace I give unto you," I meant it. Peace came from God through me to YOU. It was FOR you, but you
did not ask. When a brother is sick, it is because HE IS NOT ASKING FOR PEACE, and therefore he does not know he HAS it.
The ACCEPTANCE of peace is the denial of illusion, and sickness IS an illusion. Yet every Son of God has the power to deny
illusions ANYWHERE in the Kingdom, merely by denying them completely in himself.
T 9 I 15. I CAN heal you, because I KNOW you. I know your value FOR you, and it is this value that makes you whole. A whole
mind is not idolatrous, and does not know of conflicting laws. I will heal you merely because I have only
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ONE message, and it is true. Your faith in it will make you whole, when you have faith in me. I do not bring God's message with
deception, and you will learn this as you learn that you ALWAYS receive as much as you ACCEPT. You could accept peace NOW,
for everyone you meet, and offer them perfect freedom from ALL illusions, BECAUSE YOU HEARD. But have no other gods
before Him, or you will NOT hear.
T 9 I 16. God is not jealous of the gods you make, but YOU are. You would save them and serve them, because you believe that
THEY MADE YOU. You think they are your father, because you are projecting onto them the fearful fact that YOU MADE THEM
TO REPLACE GOD. But when they seem to speak to you, remember that NOTHING can replace God, and whatever replacements
you have attempted ARE nothing. Very simply, then, you may BELIEVE you are afraid of nothingNESS, but you are REALLY
afraid of NOTHING. And in THAT awareness you ARE healed.
T 9 I 17. You WILL hear the god you listen to. You MADE the god of sickness, and BY making him, you made yourself ABLE to
hear him. But you did NOT create him, because he is NOT the Will of the Father. He is therefore not eternal, and will be UNmade
for you, the instant you signify your willingness to accept ONLY the eternal. If God has but one Son, there is but one God. You
share reality with Him, BECAUSE reality is not divided. To accept other gods before Him, is to place other images before
YOURSELF. You do not realize how much you listen to your gods, and how vigilant you are on their behalf. But they exist only
because you honor them.
T 9 I 18. Place honor where it is due, and peace WILL be yours. It is your inheritance from your REAL Father. You cannot make
your father, and the father you made did NOT make you. Honor is not due to illusions, for to honor them is to honor nothing. But
fear is not due them either, for nothing cannot be fearful. You have chosen to fear love BECAUSE of its perfect harmlessness. And
because of this fear, you have been willing to give up your own perfect helpfullness, and your own perfect Help. Only at the altar of
God will you find peace, and this altar is in you, because God put it there. His Voice still calls
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you to return, and He will be heard, when you place no other gods before Him.
T 9 I 19. You can give up the god of sickness for your brothers; in fact, you would HAVE to do so, if you give him up for yourself.
For if you see him anywhere, YOU have accepted him. And if you accept him, you WILL bow down and worship him, because HE
WAS MADE AS GOD's REPLACEMENT. He is the belief that YOU CAN CHOOSE WHICH GOD IS REAL. Although it is
perfectly clear that this has nothing to do with REALITY, it is equally clear that it has EVERYTHING to do with REALITY AS
YOU PERCEIVE IT.
T 9 J. Magic versus Miracles (*N 890 7:221)
T 9 J 1. All magic is a form of reconciling the irreconcilable. All religion is the recognition that the irreconcilable cannot BE
reconciled.
T 9 J 2. Sickness and perfection ARE irreconcilable. If God created you perfect, you ARE perfect. If you believe you can be sick,
you HAVE placed other gods before Him. GOD is not at war with the god of sickness which you made, but YOU are. He is the
symbol of willing AGAINST God, and you are afraid of him BECAUSE he cannot be reconciled with God's will. If you ATTACK
him, you will make him real to you. But if you refuse to worship him, in whatever form he may appear to you, and wherever you
think you see him, he will disappear into the nothingness out of which he was made.
T 9 J 3. Reality can dawn only in an unclouded mind. It is always THERE, to BE accepted, but its acceptance depends on your
WILLINGNESS TO HAVE IT. To know reality MUST involve the willingness to judge Unreality FOR WHAT IT IS. This is the
RIGHT use of selective perception. To overlook nothingness is merely to judge it correctly, and because of your ability to evaluate
it truly, to LET IT GO. Knowledge cannot dawn on a mind full of illusions, because truth and illusions are irreconcilable. Truth is
whole, and CANNOT be known by PART of a mind.
T 9 J 4. The Sonship cannot be perceived as PARTLY sick, because to perceive it that way, is not to perceive it at all. If the Sonship
is ONE, it is one in ALL respects. ONENESS CANNOT BE DIVIDED. If you perceive other gods, YOUR mind is split, and you
will not be able to LIMIT the split, because the split IS the
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sign that you have removed part of your mind from God's Will, and this MEANS that it is out of control. To be out of control is to
be out of REASON, and the mind DOES become unreasonable without reason. This is merely a matter of DEFINITION. By
DEFINING the mind wrongly, you perceive it as FUNCTIONING wrongly.
T 9 J 5. God's laws will keep your minds at peace, because peace IS His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the
laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws CANNOT BE
UNDERSTOOD TOGETHER. The laws of God work only for your good, and there ARE no other laws beside His. Everything else
is merely lawLESS, and therefore chaotic. But God Himself has protected EVERYTHING He created BY His laws. Therefore,
everything that is not under them does not exist.
T 9 J 6. "Laws of chaos" are meaningless, by definition. Creation is perfectly lawful, and the chaotic is without meaning,
BECAUSE IT IS WITHOUT GOD. You have given your peace to the gods you made, but they are not there to take it FROM you,
and you are NOT able to give it TO them. You are NOT free to give up freedom, but only to DENY it. YOU CANNOT DO WHAT
GOD DID NOT INTEND, because what He did not intend DOES NOT HAPPEN. Your gods do not BRING chaos; you are
ENDOWING them with chaos, and accepting it OF them.
T 9 J 7. All this has never been. Nothing but the laws of God has ever operated, and nothing except His Will will ever be. You were
created through His laws and by His Will, and the manner of your creation established you AS CREATORS. What you have made
is so unworthy of you, that you could hardly want it, IF YOU WERE WILLING TO SEE IT AS IT IS. You will see nothing at all.
And your vision will AUTOMATICALLY look beyond it, to what is IN you, and all AROUND you. Reality cannot BREAK
THROUGH the obstructions you interpose, but it WILL envelop you completely, WHEN YOU LET THEM GO.
T 9 J 8. When you have experienced the protection of God, the making of idols becomes inconceivable. There are no strange images
in the Mind of God, and what is not in His Mind CANNOT be in yours, because you are of One Mind, and that Mind
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belongs to HIM. It is yours BECAUSE it belongs to Him, for ownership is sharing to Him. And if it is so for Him, it is so for you.
His definitions ARE His laws, for by them He established the universe as what it is. No false gods you attempt to interpose between
yourself and your reality, affect truth at all. Peace is yours because God created you. And He created nothing else.
T 9 J 9. The miracle is the act of a Son of God who has laid aside all false gods, and who calls on his brothers to do likewise. It is an
act of faith, because it is the recognition that his brother CAN do it. It is a call to the Holy Spirit in his mind, a call to Him which is
strengthened by this joining. Because the miracle-worker has heard Him, he strengthens His Voice in a sick brother by weakening
his belief in sickness, which he does NOT share. The power of one mind CAN shine into another, because all the lamps of God
were lit by the same spark. It is everywhere, and it is eternal.
T 9 J 10. In many, only the spark remains, for the great rays are obscured. But God has kept the spark alive, so the rays can never be
completely forgotten. If you but see the little spark, you will learn of the greater light, for the rays are there unseen. Perceiving the
spark will heal, but knowing the Light will create. Yet in the returning, the little light must be acknowledged first, for the separation
was a descent from magnitude to littleness. But the spark is still as pure as the Great Light, because it is the remaining call of
Creation. Put all your faith in it, and God Himself will answer you.
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T 9 K. The Denial of God (*N 899 8:3)
T 9 K 1. The rituals of the god of sickness are strange and very demanding. Joy is never permitted, for depression is the sign of
allegiance to him. Depression MEANS that you have foresworn God. Men are afraid of blasphemy, but they do not know what it
means. They do not realize that, to deny God, is to deny their own identity, and in this sense, the wages of sin IS death. The sense is
very literal; -- denial of Life perceives its opposite, as ALL forms of denial replace what IS, with what is NOT. No-one can really
DO this, but that you can THINK you can, and BELIEVE YOU HAVE, is beyond dispute.
T 9 K 2. Do not forget, however, that to deny God will inevitably result in projection, and you will believe that others, AND NOT
YOURSELF, have done this TO you. You WILL receive the message you give, because it is the message you WANT. You may
believe that you judge your brothers by the messages they give YOU, but you HAVE judged them by the message you give THEM.
Do not attribute your denial of joy to them, or you cannot see the spark in them, that could bring joy to YOU. It is the DENIAL of
the spark that brings depression, and whenever you see your brothers WITHOUT it, you ARE denying God.
T 9 K 3. Allegiance to the denial of God is the ego's religion. The god of sickness obviously demands the denial of health, because
health is in direct opposition to its own survival. But consider what this means to YOU. UNLESS you are sick you cannot keep the
gods you made, for only in sickness could you possibly WANT them. Blasphemy, then, is SELF-destructive, not God destructive. It
means that you are willing NOT to know yourself, IN ORDER to be sick. This IS the offering which your god demands, because
having made him out of YOUR insanity, he IS an insane idea. He has many forms, but though he may seem like many different
things, he is but one idea;-- the denial of God.
T 9 K 4. Sickness and death entered the mind of God's Son against His Will. The "attack on God" made His Son think he was
fatherless, and out of his
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depression he made the god of depression. This was his alternative to joy, because he would not accept the fact that, although he
was a creator, he had been created. Yet the Son IS helpless without the Father, Who alone IS his Help. We said before that of
yourselves you can do nothing, but you are not OF yourselves. If you were, what you have made would be true, and you could never
escape.
T 9 K 5. It is BECAUSE you did not make yourselves, that you need be troubled by nothing. Your gods are nothing, because your
Father did not create them. You cannot make creators who are unlike your Creator, any more than He could have created a Son who
was unlike Him. If creation is sharing, it cannot create what is unlike itself. It can share only what it IS. Depression is isolation, and
so it could not have BEEN created.
T 9 K 6. Son of God, you have not sinned, but you have been much mistaken. But this can be corrected, and God will help you,
knowing that you could not sin against Him. You denied Him BECAUSE you loved Him, knowing that if you RECOGNIZED your
love for Him, you COULD not deny Him. Your denial therefore MEANS that you love Him, and THAT YOU KNOW HE LOVES
YOU. Remember that what you deny you MUST have known. And if you can accept denial, YOU CAN ACCEPT ITS UNDOING.
T 9 K 7. Your Father has not denied you. He does not retaliate, but He DOES call to you to return. When you think He has not
answered your call, YOU HAVE NOT ANSWERED HIS. He calls to you from every part of the Sonship, because of His love for
His Son. If you hear His message, He HAS answered you, and you will learn what you are of Him, if you hear aright. The love of
God is in everything He created, for His Son is everywhere. Look with peace upon your brothers, and God will come rushing into
your heart, in gratitude for your gift to Him.
T 9 K 8. Do not look to the god of sickness for healing, but only to the God of love, for healing is the acknowledgment of Him.
When you acknowledge Him, you will KNOW that He has never ceased to acknowledge you, and that in
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His acknowledgment OF you lies your Being. You are not sick, and you cannot die. But you CAN confuse your self with things that
do. Remember, though, that to do this IS blasphemy, for it means that you are looking without love on God and His Creation, from
which He cannot be separated. Only the eternal can be loved, for love does not die. What is of God is His forever, and you ARE of
God. Would He allow Himself to suffer? And would He offer His Son anything that is not acceptable to Him?
T 9 K 9. If you will accept yourself as God created you, you will be incapable of suffering. But to do this, you must acknowledge
Him as your Creator. This is not because you will be punished otherwise. It is merely because your acknowledgment of your Father
IS the acknowledgment of yourself as you ARE. Your Father created you Wholly without sin, wholly without pain, and wholly
without suffering of any kind. If you deny Him, you bring sin, pain, and suffering into your OWN mind, because of the power He
gave it. Your mind is capable of creating worlds, but it can also DENY what it creates, because it is free.
T 9 K 10. You do not realize how much you have denied yourself, and how much God, in His love, would not have it so. Yet He
would not interfere with you, because He would not know His Son if he were not free. To interfere with you would be to attack
HIMSELF, and God is not insane. When you denied HIM, you WERE insane. Would you have Him SHARE your insanity? God
will never cease to love His Son, and His Son will never cease to love Him. That was the condition of His Son's Creation, fixed
forever in the Mind of God. To know that is sanity. To deny it is insanity. God gave HIMSELF to you in your Creation, and His
gifts ARE eternal. Would you deny yourself to Him?
T 9 K 11. Out of your gifts to Him, the Kingdom will be restored to His Son. His Son removed himself from His gift by refusing to
accept what had been created FOR him, and what he himself had created in the name of His Father. Heaven waits for his return, for
it was created as the dwelling place of God's Son. You are not at home anywhere else, or in any other condition. Do not deny
yourself the joy which was created FOR you, for the misery you have made for yourselves. God has given you the means for
undoing what you have made. Listen, and you WILL learn what you are.
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T 9 K 12. If God knows His children as wholly sinless, it is blasphemous to perceive them as guilty. If God knows His children as
wholly without pain, it is blasphemous to perceive suffering anywhere. If God knows his children to be wholly joyous, it is
blasphemous to feel depressed. All these illusions, and the many other forms which blasphemy may take, are REFUSALS TO
ACCEPT CREATION AS IT IS. If God created His Son perfect, that is how you must learn to see him, to learn of his reality. And
as part of the Sonship, THAT IS HOW YOU MUST SEE YOURSELF TO LEARN YOURS.
T 9 K 13. Do not perceive ANYTHING God did not create, or you ARE denying Him. His is the ONLY Fatherhood, and it is yours
only because HE has given it to you. Your gifts to YOURSELF are meaningless, but your gifts to YOUR creations are like His,
because they are given in His Name. That is why your creations are as real as His. But the real Fatherhood must be acknowledged, if
the real Son is to be known. You believe that the sick things which you have made are your real creations, because you believe that
the sick images you perceive are the Sons of God.
T 9 K 14. Only if you ACCEPT the Fatherhood of God will you have anything, because His Fatherhood GAVE you everything.
That is why to deny Him IS to deny yourself. Arrogance is the denial of love, because love shares and arrogance withholds. As long
as both appear to you to be desirable, the concept of choice, which is not of God, will remain with you. While this is not true in
Eternity, it IS true in time, so that, while time lasts in YOUR minds, there WILL be choices. Time itself WAS your choice. If you
would remember Eternity, you must learn to look on only the Eternal. If you allow yourselves to become preoccupied with the
temporal, you are LIVING IN TIME. As always, your choice is determined by what you value. Time and Eternity cannot both be
real, because they contradict each other. If you will accept only what is timeless as real, you will begin to understand Eternity, and
make it yours.
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CHAPTER 10 – GOD AND THE EGO
T 10 A. Introduction (*N 909 8:13)
T 10 A 1. Either God or the ego is insane. If you will examine the evidence ON BOTH SIDES fairly, you will realize that this
MUST be true. Neither God nor the ego proposes a partial thought system. Each is internally consistent, but they are diametrically
opposed in all respects, so that partial allegiance is impossible. But remember that their results are as different as their foundations,
and their fundamentally irreconcilable natures CANNOT be resolved by YOUR vacillations. Nothing alive is fatherless, for life is
creation. Therefore, your decision is always an answer to the question, "Who is my father?" And you WILL be faithful to the father
you choose.
T 10 A 2. Yet what would you say to someone who REALLY believed this question involves conflict? If YOU made the ego, how
can the ego have made YOU? The authority problem remains the ONLY source of perceived conflict, because the ego was MADE
out of the wish of God's Son to father HIM. The ego, then, is nothing more than a delusional system in which YOU MADE YOUR
OWN FATHER. Make no mistake about this. It sounds insane when it is stated with perfect honesty, but the ego never looks upon
what it does with perfect honesty. Yet that IS its insane premise, which is carefully hidden in the dark cornerstone of its thought
system. And either the ego, which you made, IS your father, or its whole thought system will not stand.
T 10 B. Projection versus Extension (*N 911 8:15)
T 10 B 1. You have made by projection, but God has created by extension. The cornerstone of God's creation is YOU, for HIS
thought system is light. Remember the rays that are there unseen. The more you approach the center of HIS thought system, the
clearer the light becomes. The closer you come to the foundation of the ego's thought system, the darker and more obscure becomes
the way. But even the little spark in your mind is enough to lighten it. Bring this light fearlessly with you, and hold it up to the
foundation of the ego's thought system bravely. Be willing to judge it with perfect honesty. Open the dark stone of terror on which
it rests, and bring it out into the light. There you will see that it rests on meaninglessness, and that everything of which you have
been afraid was based on nothing.
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T 10 B 2. My brother, you are part of God and part of me. When you have at last looked at the ego's foundation without shrinking,
you will also have looked upon ours. I come to you from our Father, to offer you everything again. Do not refuse it to keep a dark
cornerstone hidden, for ITS protection will not save you. I GIVE you the lamp, and I will go with you. You will not take this
journey alone. I will lead you to your true Father, Who hath need of you, as I have. Will you not answer the call of love with joy?
T 10 B 3. You HAVE learned your need of healing. Would you bring anything ELSE to the Sonship, knowing your need of it for
yourself? For in this lies the beginning of knowledge; the foundation on which God will help you build again the thought system
which you share WITH Him. Not one stone you place upon it but will be blessed by Him. For you will be restoring the holy
dwelling place of His Son, where He wills His Son to be, and where he IS. In whatever part of the mind of God's Son you restore
this reality, you restore it to YOURSELF. For you dwell in the Mind of God WITH your brother, for God Himself did not will to be
alone.
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T 10 B 4. To be alone is to be separated from INFINITY, but how can this be, if INFINITY has no end? No-one can BE beyond the
limitless, because what has NO limits, must be everywhere. There are no beginnings and no endings in God, Whose Universe is
Himself. Can you exclude yourself from the Universe, or from God, Who IS the Universe? I and my Father are one with YOU, for
you are part of us. Do you REALLY believe that part of God can be missing or lost to Him?
T 10 B 5. If you were not part of God, His Will would not be unified. Is this conceivable? Can part of His Mind contain nothing? If
your place in His Mind cannot be filled by anyone EXCEPT you, and your filling it WAS your creation, WITHOUT you, there
would be an empty place in God's Mind. Extension cannot be blocked, and it has no voids. It continues forever, however much it is
denied. Your DENIAL of its reality arrests it in time, but not in Eternity. That is why your creations have not ceased to be extended,
and why so much is waiting for your return.
T 10 B 6. Waiting is possible ONLY in time, but time has no meaning. You who made delay can leave time behind, simply by
recognizing that neither beginnings nor endings were created by the Eternal, Who placed no limits on His creation nor upon those
who create like Him. You do not know this, simply because you have tried to limit what HE created, and so you believe that ALL
creation is limited. How, then, could you know YOUR creations, having DENIED Infinity? The laws of the universe do not permit
contradiction. What holds for God holds for you. If you believe YOU are absent from God, you WILL believe He is absent from
you.
T 10 B 7. Infinity is meaningless WITHOUT you, and YOU are meaningless without God. There IS no end to God and His Son, for
we ARE the universe. God is not incomplete, and He is not childless. Because He did not will to be alone, He created a Son like
Himself. Do not deny Him His Son, for your unwillingness to accept His Fatherhood has denied you yours. See His creations as HIS
Son, for yours were created in honor of Him.
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T 10 B 8. The universe of love does not stop because you do not see it, and your closed eyes have not lost the ability to see. Look
upon the glory of His creation, and you will learn what God has kept for YOU. God has given you a place in His Mind which is
yours forever. But you could keep it only by Giving it, as it was given to you. Could YOU be alone there, if it was given you
because GOD did not will to be alone? God's Mind cannot be lessened. It can ONLY be increased, and EVERYTHING He creates
has the function of creating. It can ONLY be increased, and EVERYTHING He creates has the function of creating LOVE DOES
NOT LIMIT, and what it creates is not limited.
T 10 B 9. To give without limit is God's Will for you, because only this can bring you the joy which is His, and which He wills to
share with YOU. Your love is as boundless as His because it IS His. Could any part of Him be WITHOUT His Love, and could any
part of His Love be contained? God is your heritage, because His one gift is Himself. How can you give except LIKE Him, if you
would know His gift to YOU? Give, then, without limit and without end, to learn how much HE has given YOU. Your ability to
ACCEPT Him depends on your willingness to give as He gives. Your fatherhood and your Father are One.
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T 10 B 10. God willed to create, and your will is His. It follows, then, that YOU will to create, since your will follows from His.
And being the extension of His will, yours MUST be the same. Yet what you will, you do not know. This is not strange, when you
realize that to deny IS to not know. God's Will was that you are His Son. By DENYING this, you denied your OWN will, and
therefore DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS. The reason you must ask what God's Will is in everything, is merely because It IS yours.
YOU do not know what it is, but the Holy Spirit REMEMBERS IT FOR YOU.
T 10 B 11. Ask him, therefore, what God's Will is for you, and He will tell you YOURS. It cannot be too often repeated that you do
NOT KNOW it. Whenever what the Holy Spirit tells you appears to be coercive, it is ONLY because YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE
YOUR OWN WILL. The projection of the ego makes it appear as if God's Will is OUTSIDE yourself, and therefore NOT YOURS.
In THIS interpretation, it IS possible for God's Will and yours to conflict. God, then, may seem to demand of you what you do NOT
want to give, and thus DEPRIVE you of what you want. Would God, Who wants ONLY your will, be capable of this? Your will is
His Life, which He has GIVEN to you. Even in time you cannot live apart from Him, for sleep is not death. What He created can
sleep, but it CANNOT die. Immortality is His Will for His Son, and His Son's will for HIMSELF. Yet God's Son cannot will death
for himself, because His Father is Life, and HIS SON IS LIKE HIM .
T 10 B 12. Creation is your will because it is His. You cannot be happy unless you do what you will truly, and you CHANGE this,
because it is immutable. But it is immutable by God's Will AND YOURS, for otherwise His Will would not have been extended.
You are afraid to know God's Will, because you believe it is NOT yours. This belief is your whole sickness, and your whole fear.
Every symptom of sickness and fear arises here, because this is the belief that makes you want not to know. Believing this, you hide
in
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darkness, denying that the Light is in YOU.
T 10 B 13. You are asked to trust the Holy Spirit only because He speaks for YOU. He is the Voice for God, but never forget that
God did not will to be alone. He SHARES His Will with you; He does not thrust it UPON you. Always remember that what He
gives He holds, so that nothing He gives CAN contradict Him. You who share His Life must share it to KNOW it, for sharing IS
knowing. Blessed are you who learn that to hear the Will of your Father, is to know your own. For it is YOUR will to be LIKE Him,
Whose Will it is that it be so.
T 10 B 14. God's Will is that His Son be One, and united with Him in His Oneness. That is why healing is the beginning of the
recognition that YOUR WILL IS HIS.
T 10 C. The Willingness for Healing (*N 927 8:31)
T 10 C 1. If sickness is separation, the will to heal and BE HEALED is the first step toward RECOGNIZING WHAT YOU TRULY
WANT. Every ATTACK is a step AWAY from this, and every healing thought brings it closer. The Son of God HAS both Father
and Son because he IS both Father and Son.
T 10 C 2. To unite having and being is only to unite your will with His, for He wills you HIMSELF. And you will yourself to HIM,
because in your perfect understanding of Him, you KNOW there IS but One Will. But when you attack ANY part of God and His
Kingdom, your understanding is NOT perfect, and what YOU will is therefore lost to you.
T 10 C 3. Healing thus becomes A LESSON IN UNDERSTANDING, and the more you practice it, the better teacher AND
LEARNER you become. If you have DENIED truth, what better witnesses to its reality could you have, than those who have been
healed BY it? But be sure to count yourself among them, for in your willingness to JOIN them is YOUR healing accomplished.
T 10 C 4. Every miracle which you accomplish speaks to you of the Fatherhood of God. Every healing thought which you
ACCEPT, either FROM your brother or in your OWN mind, teaches you that you are God's Son. But in every hurtful thought you
hold, wherever you perceive it, lies the denial of God's Fatherhood and your Sonship. And denial IS as total as love. You cannot
deny PART of yourself, simply because the remainder will seem to be unintegrated, and therefore without meaning. And being
without meaning TO YOU, you will not understand it.
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To deny meaning MUST be to fail to understand.
T 10 C 5. You can only heal yourself, for only God's Son NEEDS healing. He needs it because he does not understand himself, and
therefore knows not what he does. Having forgotten his will, he does not know what he WANTS. Healing is a sign that HE
WANTS TO MAKE WHOLE. And this willingness opens his OWN ears to the Voice of the Holy Spirit, Whose message IS
wholeness. He will enable you to go far beyond the healing YOU would undertake, for beside your small willingness to make whole
He will lay His Own COMPLETE Will and make YOURS whole. What can the Son of God NOT accomplish with the Fatherhood
of God in him?
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T 10 C 6. And yet the invitation must come from you, for you have surely learned that whom you invite as your guest WILL abide
with you. The Holy Spirit cannot speak to an unwelcoming host, BECAUSE HE WILL NOT BE HEARD. The Eternal Guest
remains, but His Voice grows faint in alien company. He needs your protection, but only because your care is a sign that you
WANT Him. Think like Him ever so slightly, and the little spark becomes a blazing light that fills your mind so that He becomes
your only Guest.
T 10 C 7. Whenever you ask the ego to enter, you lessen His welcome. HE will remain, but YOU have allied yourself AGAINST
Him. Whatever journey you choose to take, He will go with you, waiting. You can safely trust His patience, for He CANNOT leave
a part of God. But you will far more than patience. You will never rest until you know your function AND FULFILL IT, for only in
this can your will and your Father's be wholly joined. To HAVE Him is to be LIKE Him, and He has GIVEN Himself to you.
T 10 C 8. You who have God MUST be as God, for HIS function became YOURS with His gift. Invite this knowledge back into
your minds, and let nothing that will obscure it enter. The Guest whom God sent you will teach you how to do this, if you but
recognize the little spark, and are WILLING TO LET IT GROW. YOUR willingness need not be perfect, because His IS. If you
will merely offer Him a little place, He will lighten it so much, that you will gladly extend it. And by THIS extending, you will
begin to remember Creation.
T 10 C 9. Would you be hostage to the ego or host to God? You will accept only whom YOU invite. You are free to determine who
shall be your guest, and how long he shall remain with you. But this is not REAL freedom, for it depends on how you see it. For the
Holy Spirit is THERE, although He cannot help you without your invitation, and the ego is nothing, whether you invite it in or not.
Real freedom depends on welcoming REALITY, and of your guests only He IS real. Know, then, Who abides with you, merely by
recognizing WHAT IS ALREADY THERE, and do not be satisfied with imaginary comforters, for the Comforter of God is in you.
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T 10 D. From Darkness to Light (*N 936 8:39)
T 10 D 1. When you are weary, remember you have hurt yourself. Your Comforter will rest you, but YOU cannot. YOU DO NOT
KNOW HOW, for if you did, you could never have grown weary. Unless you have hurt yourselves, you could never suffer in ANY
way, for that is not God's Will for His Son. Pain is not of Him, for He knows no attack, and His peace surrounds you silently. God
is very quiet, for there is no conflict in Him. Conflict is the root of all evil, for being blind, it does not see whom it attacks. But it
ALWAYS attacks the Son of God, and the Son of God is YOU.
T 10 D 2. God's Son is indeed in need of comfort, for he knows not what he does, believing his will is not his own. The Kingdom is
his, and yet he wanders homelessly. At home in God he is lonely, and amid all his brothers he is friendless. Would God let this be
real, if He did not will to be alone Himself? And if your will is His, it CANNOT be true of you, BECAUSE it is not true of Him. Oh
my children, if you knew what God wills for you, your joy would be complete! And what He wills HAS happened, for it was
ALWAYS true.
T 10 D 3. When the light comes, and you have said, "God's Will is mine," you will see such beauty that you will KNOW it is not of
you. Out of your joy, you will create beauty in His Name, for YOUR joy could no more be contained than His. The bleak little
world will vanish into nothingness, and your heart will be so filled with joy that it will leap into Heaven and into the presence of
God. I cannot tell you what this will be like, for your hearts are not ready. But I CAN tell you, and remind you often, that what God
wills for Himself He wills for YOU, and what He wills for you IS yours.
T 10 D 4. The way is not hard, but it IS very different. Yours is the way of pain, of which God knows nothing. THAT way is hard
indeed, and very lonely. Fear and grief are your guests, and they go with you, and abide with you on the way. But the dark journey
is not the way of God's Son. Walk in light, and do not see the dark companions, for they are not fit companions for the Son of God,
who was created OF Light and IN Light.
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The Great Light ALWAYS surrounds you, and shines out FROM you. How can you see the dark companions in a Light such as
this? If you see THEM, it is only because you are denying the Light. But DENY THEM INSTEAD, for the Light is here, and the
way is clear.
T 10 D 5. God hides nothing from His Son, even though he would hide himself. Yet the Son of God cannot hide his glory, for God
wills him to be glorious, and gave him the Light that shines in him. You will never lose your way, for God leads you. When you
wander, you but undertake a journey which is not real. The dark companions, the dark way, are all illusions. Turn toward the Light,
for the little spark in you is part of a Light so great that it can sweep you out of all darkness forever. For your Father IS your
Creator, and you ARE like Him. The Children of Light cannot abide in darkness, for darkness is NOT in them.
T 10 D 6. Do not be deceived by the dark comforters, and never let them enter the mind of God's Son, for they have no place in His
temple. When you are tempted to deny Him, remember that there ARE no other Gods that you CAN place before Him, and accept
His Will for you in peace. For you CANNOT accept it otherwise. Only God's Comforter CAN comfort you. In the quiet of His
temple, He waits to give you the peace that is yours. GIVE His peace that you may enter the temple, and find it waiting for you. But
be holy in the Presence of God, or you will not know that you are there. For what is unlike God cannot enter His Mind, because it
was not in His Thought, and therefore does not belong to Him. And YOUR minds must be as pure as His, if you would know what
belongs to YOU.
T 10 D 7. Guard carefully His temple, for He Himself dwells there, and abides in peace. You cannot enter God's Presence with the
dark companions beside you, but you also cannot enter alone. All your brothers must enter WITH you, for until you have accepted
them, YOU cannot enter. For you cannot understand Wholeness unless YOU are whole, and no part of the Son can be excluded, if
he would know the wholeness of his Father.
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T 10 D 8. In your mind you can ACCEPT the whole Sonship, and bless it with the light your Father gave it. Then you will be
worthy to dwell in the temple WITH Him, because it is YOUR will not to be alone. God blessed His Son forever. If you will bless
him in TIME, you will BE in eternity. Time cannot separate you from God, if you use it on BEHALF of the eternal.
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T 10 E. The Inheritance of God's Son (*N 946 8:50)
T 10 E 1. Never forget that the Sonship is your salvation, for the Sonship is your Soul. As God's Creation it is yours, and belonging
to you, it is His. Your Soul does not need salvation, but your mind needs to learn what salvation IS. You are not saved FROM
anything, but you ARE saved FOR glory. Glory is your inheritance, given your Soul by its Creator, that you might EXTEND it. But
if you hate part of your own Soul, ALL your understanding is lost, because you are looking on what God creates AS YOURSELF
without love. And since what He created IS part of Him, you are denying Him His place in His own altar.
T 10 E 2. Could you try to make God homeless, and know YOU are at home? Can the Son deny the Father, WITHOUT believing
that the Father has denied HIM? God's laws hold ONLY for your protection, and they never hold in vain. What you experience,
when you deny your father, is still for your protection, for the power of your will cannot be lessened without the intervention of God
AGAINST it, and any limitation on YOUR power is NOT the Will of God. Therefore, look ONLY to the power that God gave you
to save you, remembering that it is yours BECAUSE it is His, and join with your brothers in His peace.
T 10 E 3. The peace of YOUR Soul lies in its limitlessness. Limit the peace you share, and your own Soul MUST be unknown to
you. Every altar to God is part of your Soul, because the Light He created is One with Him. Would you cut a brother off from the
Light that is yours? You could not do so, if you realized that YOU CAN ONLY DARKEN YOUR OWN MIND. As you bring HIM
back, so will YOUR mind return. That is the law of God, for the protection of the wholeness of His Son.
T 10 E 4. ONLY YOU CAN DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF ANYTHING. Do not oppose this realization, for it is truly the beginning
of the dawn of light. Remember also that the denial of this simple fact takes many forms, and these you must learn to recognize, and
to oppose steadfastly and WITHOUT EXCEPTION. This is a crucial step in the re-awakening. The beginning phases of this
reversal are often quite painful, for as blame is withdrawn from without, there is a strong tendency to harbor it within.
T 10 E 5. It is difficult, at first, to realize that this is EXACTLY
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the same thing, for there IS no distinction between within and without. If your brothers are part of YOU, and you blame THEM for
your deprivation, you ARE blaming yourself. And you cannot blame yourself WITHOUT blaming them.
T 10 E 6. That is why blame must be UNDONE, NOT re-allocated. Lay it to yourself, and you cannot KNOW yourself, for ONLY
THE EGO BLAMES AT ALL. Self-blame is therefore ego identification, and as strong an ego defense as blaming others. YOU
CANNOT ENTER GOD's PRESENCE IF YOU ATTACK HIS SON. When His Son lifts his voice in praise of his Creator, he
WILL hear the Voice of his Father. But the Creator cannot be praised without His Son, for their glory is shared, and they are
glorified together. Christ is at God's altar, waiting to welcome His Son. But come wholly without condemnation, for otherwise you
will believe that the door is barred, and you cannot enter.
T 10 E 7. The door is NOT barred, and it is impossible for you to be unable to enter the place where God would have you be. But
love yourself with the love of Christ, for so does your Father love you. You CAN refuse to enter, but you CANNOT bar the door
which Christ holds open. Come unto me who hold it open FOR you, for while I live, it cannot be shut, and I live forever. God is my
Life and YOURS, and NOTHING is denied by God to His Son. At God's altar, Christ waits for the restoration of Himself in YOU.
T 10 E 8. God knows His Son as wholly blameless as Himself, and He is approached through the appreciation of His Son. Christ
waits for your acceptance of Him as YOURSELF, and His Wholeness as YOURS. For Christ is the Son of God, who lives in his
Creator, and shines with His glory. Christ is the extension of the love and the loveliness of God, as perfect as his Creator, and at
peace with Him. Blessed is the Son of God, whose radiance is of His Father, and whose glory
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He wills to share as His Father shares it with Him.
T 10 E 9. There is no condemnation in the Son, for there is no condemnation in the Father. Sharing the perfect Love of the Father,
the Son must share what belongs to Him, for otherwise He will not know the Father or the Son. Peace be unto you who rest in God,
and in whom the whole Sonship rests.
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T 10 F. The "Dynamics" of the Ego (*N 952 8:56)
T 10 F 1. No-one can escape from illusions unless he looks at them, for not looking is the way they are PROTECTED. There is no
need to shrink from illusions, for they cannot be dangerous. We are ready to look more closely at the ego's thought system, because
together we have the lamp that will dispel it, and since you realize you do not WANT it, you MUST be ready. Let us be very calm
in doing this, for we are merely looking honestly for truth. The "dynamics" of the ego will be our lesson for a while, for we must
look first at this to look beyond it, since you HAVE made it real. We will UNDO this error quietly together, and then look beyond it
to truth.
T 10 F 2. What is healing, but the removal of all that STANDS IN THE WAY of knowledge? And how else can one dispel illusions
EXCEPT by looking at them directly, WITHOUT protecting them? Be not afraid, therefore, for what you will be looking at IS the
source of fear, but you have learned surely by now, that FEAR IS NOT REAL. We have accepted the fact already that its EFFECTS
can be dispelled, merely by denying THEIR reality. The next step is obviously to recognize that WHAT HAS NO EFFECTS DOES
NOT EXIST.
T 10 F 3. Laws do not operate in a vacuum, and what leads to nothing HAS NOT HAPPENED. If reality is recognized BY ITS
EXTENSION, what extends to nothing CANNOT be real. Do not be afraid, then, to look upon fear, for it cannot BE seen. Clarity
undoes confusion by definition, and to look upon darkness through light MUST dispel it. Let us begin this lesson in "ego
dynamics", by understanding that the term itself does not mean anything. In fact, it contains exactly the contradiction in terms that
MAKES it meaningless. "Dynamics" implies the power to DO something, and the whole separation fallacy lies in the belief that the
ego HAS the power to do ANYTHING.
T 10 F 4. The ego is fearful BECAUSE you believe this. But the truth is very simple; ALL POWER IS OF GOD. What is NOT of
Him has no power to do ANYTHING. When we look at the ego, then, we are NOT considering dynamics, but delusions. We can
surely regard a delusional system without fear,
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for it cannot have any effects if its source is not true. Fear becomes more obviously inappropriate if one recognizes the ego's
GOAL, which is so clearly senseless that any effort exerted on its behalf is NECESSARILY expended on nothing.
T 10 F 5. The ego's goal is quite explicitly EGO AUTONOMY. From the beginning, then, its PURPOSE is to be separate, sufficient
unto itself, and independent of any power EXCEPT ITS OWN. This is WHY it is the symbol of separation. Every idea has a
purpose, and its purpose is always the natural extension of what it IS. Everything that stems from the ego is the natural outcome of
its central belief, and the way to undo its RESULTS, is merely to recognize that their SOURCE is NOT natural, being out of accord
with your true nature.
T 10 F 6. We once said that to will contrary to God is wishful thinking, and not real willing. His Will is One, because the extension
of His Will CANNOT be unlike ITSELF. The real conflict you experience, then, is between the ego's idle wishes and the Will of
God, WHICH YOU SHARE. Can this BE a real conflict? Yours is the independence of Creation, NOT of autonomy. Your whole
creative function lies in your complete dependence on God, Whose function He shares WITH you. By HIS willingness to share it,
He becomes as dependent on you, as you are on Him. Do not ascribe the ego's arrogance to Him, Who wills NOT to be independent
of YOU. He has included YOU in HIS Autonomy. Can YOU believe that autonomy is meaningful APART from Him?
T 10 F 7. The belief in EGO autonomy is costing you the knowledge of your dependence on God, IN WHICH YOUR FREEDOM
LIES. The ego sees ALL dependency as threatening, and has twisted even your longing for God into a means of establishing
ITSELF. But do not be deceived by ITS interpretation of your conflict. The ego ALWAYS attacks on behalf of separation.
Believing it HAS the power to do this, it does nothing else, because its goal of autonomy
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IS nothing else. The ego is totally confused about reality, BUT IT DOES NOT LOSE SIGHT OF ITS GOAL. It is much more
vigilant than YOU are, BECAUSE it is perfectly certain of its purpose. YOU are confused, because you do NOT know YOURS.
T 10 F 8. What you must learn to recognize is that the LAST thing the ego wishes you to realize, is THAT YOU ARE AFRAID OF
IT. For if the ego gives rise to fear, it is DIMINISHING your independence, and WEAKENING your power. Yet its one claim to
your allegiance is that it can GIVE power to you. Without THIS belief, you would not listen to it at all. How, then, can its existence
continue, if you realize that by accepting it, you ARE belittling yourself, and DEPRIVING yourself of power?
T 10 F 9. The ego can and does allow you to regard yourself as supercilious, unbelieving, "light hearted -," distant, emotionally
shallow, callous, uninvolved, and even desperate, BUT NOT REALLY AFRAID. MINIMIZING fear, but NOT its undoing, is the
ego's constant effort, and is indeed the skill at which it is VERY ingenious. How can it preach separation WITHOUT upholding it
through fear, and would you listen to it, if you recognized this IS what it is doing?
T 10 F 10. YOUR recognition that whatever seems to separate you from God is ONLY fear, regardless of the form it takes, and
quite apart from HOW THE EGO WANTS TO YOU TO EXPERIENCE IT, is therefore the basic ego threat. Its dream of
autonomy is shaken to its foundation by this awareness. For though you may countenance a false idea of independence, you will
NOT accept the cost of fear, IF YOU RECOGNIZE IT. Yet this IS the cost, and the ego CANNOT minimize it. For if you overlook
love, you are overlooking YOURSELF, and you MUST fear UNreality BECAUSE YOU HAVE DENIED YOURSELF.
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By believing that you have successfully attacked truth, YOU ARE BELIEVING THAT ATTACK HAS POWER. Very simply,
then, YOU HAVE BECOME AFRAID OF YOURSELF. And no-one wills to learn what he believes would DESTROY him.
T 10 F 11. If the ego's goal of autonomy COULD be accomplished GOD's purpose could be defeated, and this IS impossible. Only
by learning what fear IS, can you finally learn to distinguish the possible from the impossible, and the false from the true. According
to the ego's teaching, ITS goal CAN be accomplished, and GOD's Purpose can NOT. According to the Holy Spirit's teaching,
ONLY God's Purpose IS accomplishment, and it is ALREADY accomplished.
T 10 F 12. God is as dependent on you as you are on Him, because HIS autonomy ENCOMPASSES yours, and is therefore
incomplete WITHOUT it. You can only ESTABLISH your autonomy by identifying WITH Him, and FULFILLING YOUR
FUNCTION AS IT EXISTS IN TRUTH. The ego believes that to accomplish ITS goal IS happiness. But it is given YOU to know
that GOD's function IS yours, and happiness CANNOT be found apart from your joint will. Recognize only that the ego's goal,
which you have pursued quite diligently, has merely brought you FEAR, and it becomes difficult to maintain that FEAR is
happiness.
T 10 F 13. UPHELD by fear, this IS what the ego would have you believe. Yet God's Son is not insane, and CANNOT believe it.
Let him but RECOGNIZE it, and he will NOT accept it. For only the insane would choose fear IN PLACE of love, and only the
insane could believe that love can be gained by ATTACK. But the sane KNOW that only attack COULD produce fear, from which
the love of God COMPLETELY protects them.
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-
T 10 F 14. The ego analyzes; the Holy Spirit ACCEPTS. The appreciation of wholeness comes ONLY through acceptance, for to
analyze MEANS to separate out. The attempt to understand totality by BREAKING IT UP is clearly the characteristically
contradictory approach of the ego to everything. Never forget that the ego believes that power, understanding AND TRUTH lie in
separation. And to ESTABLISH this belief it MUST attack. Unaware that the belief cannot BE established, and obsessed with the
conviction that separation IS salvation, the ego attacks everything it perceives, by breaking it up into small and disconnected parts,
without meaningful relationships, and thus without meaning. The ego will ALWAYS substitute chaos for meaning, for if separation
is salvation, harmony is threat.
T 10 F 15. The ego's interpretations of the laws of perception are, and would HAVE to be, the exact opposite of the Holy Spirit's.
The ego FOCUSES ON ERROR, and OVERLOOKS TRUTH. It makes real every mistake it perceives, and with characteristically
circular reasoning, concludes that, BECAUSE of the mistake, consistent truth must be meaningless. The next step, then, is obvious.
If consistent truth is meaningless, INCONSISTENCY must be true if truth has meaning. Holding error clearly in mind, and
protecting what it has made real, the ego proceeds to the next step in its thought system; that error is real, and TRUTH IS ERROR.
T 10 F 16. The ego makes no attempt to UNDERSTAND this, and it is clearly not understandable. But the ego does make EVERY
attempt to DEMONSTRATE it, and THIS it does constantly. Analyzing to ATTACK meaning, the ego DOES succeed in
overlooking it, and is left with a series of fragmented PERCEPTIONS IN WHICH IT UNIFIES ON BEHALF OF ITSELF. This,
then, becomes the universe it perceives and it is this universe which, in turn, becomes its demonstration of its own reality.
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T 10 F 17. Do not underestimate the appeal of the ego's demonstrations to those who would listen. Selective perception chooses its
witnesses carefully, and its witnesses ARE consistent. The case for insanity IS strong to the insane. For reasoning ends at its
beginning, and no thought system transcends its source. Yet reasoning without meaning CANNOT demonstrate anything, and those
who are convinced by it, MUST be deluded. Can the ego teach truly, when it overlooks truth? Can it perceive what it has DENIED?
Its witnesses DO attest to its DENIAL, but hardly to WHAT it has denied. The ego looks straight at the Father and does not see
Him, for it has denied His Son.
T 10 F 18. Would YOU remember the Father? Accept His Son and you WILL remember Him. Nothing can demonstrate that His
Son is unworthy, for nothing can prove that a lie is true. What you see of His Son through the eyes of the ego is a demonstration that
His Son does not exist, yet where the Son is, the Father MUST be. Accept what God does NOT deny, and HE will demonstrate its
truth. The witnesses for God stand in His Light and behold what HE created. Their silence is the sign that they have beheld God's
Son, and in the Presence of Christ, THEY need demonstrate nothing, for Christ speaks to them of Himself and of His Father. They
are silent because Christ speaks to them, and it is His words that THEY speak.
T 10 F 19. Every brother you meet becomes a witness for Christ or for the ego, depending on what you perceive in him. Everyone
convinces you of WHAT YOU WANT TO PERCEIVE, and of the reality of the Kingdom you have chosen for your vigilance.
Everything you perceive is a witness to the thought-system YOU WANT TO BE TRUE. Every brother has the power to release
you, IF YOU WILL TO BE FREE. You cannot accept false witness of him, unless you have evoked false witnesses AGAINST
him. If HE speaks not of Christ to YOU, YOU spoke not of Christ to him. You hear but your own voice, and if Christ speaks
through you, YOU will hear Him.
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T 10 G. Experience and Perception (*N 975 8:79)
T 10 G 1. It is impossible not to believe what you see, but it is equally impossible to see what you do NOT believe. Perceptions are
built up on the basis of experience, and experience leads to beliefs. It is not until beliefs are fixed that perceptions stabilize. In
effect, then, what you believe you DO see. That is what I meant when I said, "Blessed are ye who have not seen and still believe,"
for those who believe in the resurrection WILL see it. The resurrection is the complete triumph of Christ over the ego, not by attack,
but by transcendence. For Christ DOES rise above the ego and all its works, and ascends to the Father and HIS Kingdom.
T 10 G 2. Would you join in the resurrection or the crucifixion? Would you condemn your brothers or free them? Would you
transcend YOUR prison and ascend to the Father? For these questions are all the same, and are answered together. There has been
much confusion about what perception means, because the same word is used both for awareness and for the INTERPRETATION
of awareness. Yet you cannot BE aware without interpretation, and what you perceive IS your interpretation. This course is
perfectly clear. You do not see it clearly because you are interpreting AGAINST it, and therefore do not BELIEVE it. And if belief
determines perception, you do NOT perceive what it means and therefore do not ACCEPT it.
T 10 G 3. Yet different experiences lead to different beliefs, with them different perceptions. For perceptions are learned WITH
beliefs, and experience teaches. I am leading you to a new kind of experience which you will become less and less willing to deny.
Learning of Christ is easy, for to perceive with Him involves no strain at all. HIS perceptions are your NATURAL awareness, and it
is only distortions which YOU introduce that tire you. Let the Christ in you interpret FOR you, and do not try to limit what you see
by narrow little beliefs which are unworthy of God's Son. For until Christ comes into His Own, the Son of God WILL see himself as
fatherless.
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T 10 G 4. I am YOUR resurrection and YOUR life. You live in me because you live in God. And everyone lives in YOU, as YOU
live in everyone. Can you, then, perceive unworthiness in a brother and NOT perceive it in yourself? And can you perceive it in
yourself and NOT perceive it in God? Believe in the resurrection because it has BEEN accomplished, and it has been accomplished
IN YOU. This is as true now as it will ever be, for the resurrection is the Will of God, Which knows no time and no exceptions. But
make no exceptions yourself, or you will not perceive what has been accomplished FOR you. For we ascend unto the Father
together, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, for such is the nature of God's Son as His Father created him.
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T 10 G 5. Do not underestimate the power of the devotion of God's Son, nor the power of the god he worships over him. For he
places HIMSELF at the altar of his god, whether it be the god he made or the God Who created him. That is why his slavery is as
complete as his freedom, for he will obey ONLY the god he accepts. The god of the crucifixion demands that he crucify, and his
worshippers obey. In his name they crucify THEMSELVES, believing that the power of the Son of God is born of sacrifice and
pain. The God of the resurrection demands NOTHING, for He does not will to take away. He does not require obedience, for
obedience implies submission. He would only have you learn your OWN will and follow it, not in the spirit of sacrifice and
submission, but in the gladness of freedom.
T 10 G 6. Resurrection must compel your allegiance gladly because it is the symbol of joy. Its whole compelling power lies in the
fact that it represents what YOU want to be. The freedom to leave behind everything that hurts you and humbles you and frightens
you cannot be thrust upon you, but it CAN be offered you through the grace of God. And you can ACCEPT it by His grace, for God
IS gracious to His Son, accepting him without question as His Own. Who, then, is YOUR own? The Father has given you all that is
His, and He Himself is yours WITH them. Guard them in their resurrection, for otherwise you will not awake in God, safely
surrounded by what is yours forever.
T 10 G 7. You will not find peace until you have removed the nails from the hands of God's Son and taken the last thorn from his
forehead. The Love of God surrounds His Son whom the god of the crucifixion condemns. Teach not that I died in vain. Teach
rather that I did NOT die by demonstrating that I live IN YOU. For the UNDOING of the crucifixion of God's Son is the work of
the redemption, in which everyone has a part of equal value. God does not judge His blameless Son.
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Having given HIMSELF to him, how could it be otherwise?
T 10 G 8. You have nailed YOURSELF to a cross and placed a crown of thorns upon your own head. Yet you CANNOT crucify
God's Son, for the Will of God cannot die. His Son HAS BEEN redeemed from his own crucifixion, and you cannot assign to death
whom God has given eternal life. The dream of crucifixion still lies heavy on your eyes, but what you see in dreams is not reality.
While you perceive the Son of God as crucified you are asleep. And as long as you believe that YOU can crucify him you are only
having nightmares. You who are beginning to wake are still aware of dreams and have not yet forgotten them. The forgetting of
dreams and the awareness of Christ comes with the awakening of others to SHARE your redemption.
T 10 G 9. You will awaken to your OWN call, for the Call to awake is WITHIN you. If I live in you, you ARE awake. Yet you must
see the works I do through you, or you will not perceive that I have done them UNTO you. Do not set limits on what you believe I
can do through you, or you will not accept what I can do FOR you. For it is done ALREADY, and unless you give all that you have
received, you will not know that your Redeemer liveth and that YOU have awakened WITH Him. Redemption is recognized ONLY
by sharing it.
T 10 G 10. God's Son IS saved. Bring only THIS awareness to the Sonship, and you will have a part in the redemption as valuable
as mine. For your part must be LIKE mine if you learn it of me. If you believe that YOURS is limited, YOU are limiting MINE.
There is no order of difficulty in miracles because all of God's Sons are of equal value, and their equality is their Oneness. The
whole power of God is in every part of Him, and nothing contradictory to His Will is either great or small. What does not exist has
NO size and NO measure. To God ALL things are possible. And to Christ it is given to be LIKE the Father.
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T 10 H. The Problem and the Answer (*N 984 8:88)
T 10 H 1. The world as YOU perceive it cannot have been created by the Father, for the world is NOT as you see it. God created
ONLY the eternal, and everything YOU see is perishable. Therefore, there must be another world which you do NOT see. The Bible
speaks of a NEW Heaven and a NEW earth, yet this cannot be literally true, for the eternal are not RE-created. To PERCEIVE anew
is merely to perceive again, implying that before YOU WERE NOT PERCEIVING AT ALL. What, then, is the world that awaits
your perception WHEN YOU SEE IT? Every loving thought that the Son of God ever had is eternal. Those which his mind
perceived in this world are the world's only reality. They are still perceptions, because he still believes that he is separate, yet they
are eternal, because they are loving. And BEING loving, they are like the Father, and therefore cannot die.
T 10 H 2. The real world can ACTUALLY BE PERCEIVED. All that is necessary is a willingness to perceive nothing ELSE. For if
you perceive both good AND evil, you are accepting both the false AND the true, AND MAKING NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN
THEM. The ego sees SOME good, but never ONLY good. That is WHY its perceptions are so variable. It does not reject goodness
entirely, for this you could not accept, but it always ADDS something that is NOT real TO the real, thus CONFUSING ILLUSION
AND REALITY. For perceptions cannot be partly true. If you believe in truth AND illusion you CANNOT TELL WHICH IS
TRUE.
T 10 H 3. To establish your PERSONAL autonomy you tried to create UNLIKE your Father, BELIEVING what you made to be
capable of BEING unlike Him. Yet everything in what you have made that IS true, IS like Him. Only this is the real world, and
perceiving ONLY this will lead you to the real Heaven because IT WILL MAKE YOU CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING IT.
The perception of goodness is not knowledge, but the denial of the OPPOSITE of goodness enables you to perceive a condition in
which opposites do not exist. And this IS the condition of knowledge. WITHOUT this awareness, you have NOT met its conditions,
and until you do you will not know that it is yours already.
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T 10 H 4. You have made many ideas which you have placed between yourselves and your Creator, and these beliefs are the world
as YOU perceive it. Truth is not absent here, but it IS obscure. You do not know the difference between what you have made, and
what God created, and so you do not know the difference between what you have made, and what YOU have created. To believe
that you can perceive the real world is to believe that you can know yourself. You CAN know God, because it is His Will to BE
known. The real world is all that the Holy Spirit has saved for you, out of what you have made, and to perceive only this is
salvation, because it is the recognition that reality is ONLY WHAT IS TRUE.
T 10 H 5. This is a very simple course. Perhaps you do not feel that a course which, in the end, teaches nothing more than that only
reality is true is necessary. BUT DO YOU BELIEVE IT? When you have perceived the real world, you will recognize that you did
NOT believe it. But the swiftness with which your new and ONLY real perception will be translated into knowledge, will leave you
only an instant to realize that this judgment is true. And then everything you made will be forgotten, the good and bad, the false and
the true. For as Heaven and earth become one, even the real world will vanish from your sight. The end of the world is not its
destruction, but its TRANSLATION into Heaven. The re-interpretATION of the world is the transfer of ALL perception to
knowledge.
T 10 H 6. The Bible tells you to become as little children. Little children recognize that they do not understand what they perceive,
and so they ASK WHAT IT MEANS. Do not make the mistake of believing that YOU understand what YOU perceive, for its
meaning IS lost to you. But the Holy Spirit has saved its meaning FOR you, and if you will LET Him interpret it FOR you, He will
restore what you have thrown away. As long as you THINK YOU KNOW its meaning, you will see no need to ask it OF Him. You
do not know the meaning of ANYTHING you perceive. NOT ONE THOUGHT YOU HOLD IS WHOLLY TRUE.
T 10 H 7. The recognition of this is your firm beginning. You are not misguided; you have accepted no guide at all. Instruction in
perception is your
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great need, FOR YOU UNDERSTAND NOTHING. RECOGNIZE this, but do not accept it, for understanding is your inheritance.
Perceptions are learned, and you are not without a Teacher. But your willingness to learn of Him depends on your willingness to
question EVERYTHING you have learned OF YOURSELF, for you who have learned amiss should not be your own teachers. No-one
can withhold truth, except from himself. Yet God will not refuse the answer He GAVE you. Ask, then, for what is yours, but
which you did NOT make, and do not defend yourself AGAINST truth.
T 10 H 8. YOU made the problem which God HAS answered. Ask yourselves, therefore, but one simple question; "Do I want the
problem or do I want the answer?" Decide for the answer, and you WILL have it, for you will see it as it is, and it is yours already.
You complain that this course is not sufficiently specific for you to understand it AND USE IT. Yet it has been VERY specific, and
YOU HAVE NOT DONE WHAT IT SPECIFICALLY ADVOCATES. This is not a course in the play of ideas, but in their
PRACTICAL APPLICATION. Nothing could be more specific than to be told very clearly, that if you ask you WILL receive.
T 10 H 9. The Holy Spirit will answer EVERY specific problem, as long as you believe that problems ARE specific. His answer is
both many and one, as long as you believe that the One IS many. Realize that YOU ARE AFRAID OF HIS SPECIFICITY, for fear
of what you think it will DEMAND of you. Yet only by asking will you learn that nothing that is of God demands ANYTHING of
you. God GIVES; He does NOT take. You are refusing to ask, because you believe that asking is TAKING, and you do not perceive
it as sharing. The Holy Spirit will give you only what is yours, and will take nothing in return. For what is yours IS everything, and
you share it WITH God. This IS its reality. Would the Holy Spirit, Who wills only to RESTORE, be capable of MISinterpreting the
question you must ask to learn His answer?
T 10 H 10. You HAVE heard the answer, but you have misunderstood the QUESTION. You have believed that to ask for guidance
of the Holy Spirit, IS TO ASK FOR DEPRIVATION. Little children of God, you do not understand your Father.
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You believe in a world that takes because you believe that you can get by taking. But BY that perception, you have lost sight of the
real world. You are afraid of the AS YOU SEE IT, but the real world is still yours for the asking. Do not deny it TO yourself, for it
can ONLY free you. Nothing of God will enslave His Son, whom He created free and whose freedom is protected by HIS Being.
T 10 H 11. Blessed are you who will ask the truth of God without fear, for only thus can you learn that His answer IS the release
from fear. Beautiful Child of God, you are asking only for what I promised you. Do you believe I would DECEIVE you? The
Kingdom of Heaven IS within you. Believe that the truth is in me, for I KNOW that it is in YOU. God's Sons have nothing which
they do not share. Ask for truth of any Son of God, and you have asked it of me. No-one of us but has the answer in him, to give to
anyone who asks it OF him. Ask anything of God's Son, and His Father will answer you, for Christ is not deceived in His Father
and His Father is not deceived in Him.
T 10 H 12. Do not, then, be deceived in your brother, and see only his loving thoughts as his reality, for by denying that his mind is
split, YOU WILL HEAL YOURS. Accept him as his Father accepts him, and heal him unto Christ, for Christ is his healing AND
YOURS. Christ is the Son of God Who is in no way separate from His Father, Whose EVERY thought is as loving as the Thought
of His Father, by which He was created. Be not deceived in God's Son, for thereby you MUST be deceived in yourself. And being
deceived in yourself you ARE deceived in your Father, in Whom no deceit is possible.
T 10 H 13. In the real world, there is no sickness, for there is no separation and no division. Only loving thoughts are recognized,
and because no-one is without YOUR help, the Help of God goes with YOU everywhere. As you become willing to ACCEPT this
Help BY ASKING FOR IT, you will give it BECAUSE YOU WANT IT. Nothing will be beyond your healing power, because
nothing will be denied your simple request. What problems will not disappear in the presence
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of God's answer? Ask, then, to learn of the reality of your brother BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL PERCEIVE IN HIM,
and you will see your beauty reflected in HIM.
T 10 H 14. Do not accept your brother's variable perception of himself, for his split mind is yours, and you will not accept YOUR
healing without his. For you share the real world as you share Heaven, and his healing IS yours. To love yourself is to HEAL
yourself, and you cannot perceive part of you as sick and achieve your OWN goal. Brother, we heal together as we live together,
and love together. Be not deceived in God's Son, for he is one with himself, and One with his Father. Love him who is beloved of
His Father, and you will learn of the Father's Love for YOU.
T 10 H 15. If you perceive offense in a brother, pluck the offense from your mind, for you are offended by Christ, and are deceived
in Him. HEAL in Christ and be not offended by Him, for there is no offense IN Him. If what you perceive offends you, you are
offended in YOURSELF, and are condemning God's Son, whom God condemneth not. Let the Holy Spirit remove ALL offense of
God's Son against himself and perceive no-one but through HIS guidance, for He would save you from ALL condemnation. Accept
His healing power, and use it for all He sends you, for He wills to heal the Son of God in whom He is not deceived.
T 10 H 16. Children perceive terrifying ghosts and monsters and dragons, and they are terrified. But if they ask someone they trust
for the REAL meaning of what they perceive, and are willing to LET THEIR INTERPRETATIONS GO IN FAVOR OF
REALITY, their fear goes with them. When a child is helped to translate his "ghost" into a curtain, his "monster" into a shadow and
his "dragon" into a dream, he is no longer afraid, and laughs happily at his own fear. You, my children, are afraid of your brothers,
and of your Father and of YOURSELVES. But you are merely DECEIVED in them.
T 10 H 17. Ask what they ARE of the Teacher of Reality, and hearing His answer, you too will laugh at your fears and replace them
with peace. For fear lies
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not in reality, but in the minds of children who do not UNDERSTAND it. It is only their LACK OF UNDERSTANDING that
frightens them, and when they learn to perceive truly, they are not afraid. And because of this, they will ask for truth again, when
they are frightened. It is not the REALITY of your brothers, or your Father, or yourself which frightens you. You do not know what
they ARE, and so YOU perceive them as ghosts and monsters and dragons.
T 10 H 18. ASK of their reality from the One Who knows it, and He will tell you what they are. For you do NOT understand them,
and because you are deceived by what you see, you NEED reality to dispel your fears. Would you not exchange your fears for truth
if the exchange is yours for the asking? For if God is not deceived in you, you can be deceived only in YOURSELF. But you can
learn the truth of yourself of the Holy Spirit, Who will teach you that, as part of God, deceit in YOU is impossible. When you
perceive yourself without deceit, you will accept the real world in place of the false one you have made. And then your Father will
lean down to you, and take the last step for you, by raising you unto Himself.
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CHAPTER 11 – GOD's PLAN FOR SALVATION
T 11 A. Introduction (*N 997 8:101)
T 11 A 1. You have been told not to make error real, and the way to do this is very simple. If you WANT to believe in error, you
would HAVE to make it real, because it is not true. But TRUTH is real in its OWN right, and to believe in truth, YOU DO NOT
HAVE TO DO ANYTHING. Understand that you do not respond to stimuli, but to STIMULI AS YOU INTERPRET THEM. Your
interpretation thus becomes the JUSTIFICATION for the response. That is why analyzing the motives of others is hazardous to
YOU. If you decide that someone is REALLY trying to attack you, or desert you or enslave you, you will respond as if he had
actually DONE so, BECAUSE you have made his error REAL to you. To interpret error is to GIVE IT POWER, and, having done
this, you WILL overlook truth.
T 11 A 2. The analysis of ego motivation is very complicated, very obscuring, and NEVER without the risk of your own ego
involvement. The whole process represents a clear-cut attempt to demonstrate YOUR OWN ability to understand what you
perceive. This is demonstrated by the fact that you REACT to your interpretations as if they WERE correct, and control your
reactions behaviorally, BUT NOT EMOTIONALLY. This is quite evidently a mental split, in which you have attacked the integrity
of your mind, and pitted one level within it against another.
T 11 B. The Judgment of the Holy Spirit (*N 998 8:102)
T 11 B 1. There is but one interpretation of ALL motivation that makes any sense, and, because it is the Holy Spirit's judgment, it
requires no effort at all on your part. Every loving thought is true. EVERYTHING ELSE is an appeal for healing and help. That is
what it IS, regardless of the form it takes. Can anyone be justified in responding with anger to a plea for help? No response can BE
appropriate EXCEPT the willingness to give it TO him, for this and ONLY this is what he is ASKING for. Offer him anything
ELSE, and YOU are assuming the right to attack his reality, by interpreting it AS YOU SEE FIT.
T 11 B 2. Perhaps the danger of this to your OWN mind is not yet fully apparent. But this by no means signifies that it is not
perfectly clear. If you maintain
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that an appeal for help is something ELSE, you will REACT to something else, and your response will be inappropriate to reality
as IT is, but NOT to your perception OF it. This is poor reality testing by definition. There is nothing to prevent you from
recognizing ALL calls for help as exactly what they are, EXCEPT YOUR OWN PERCEIVED NEED TO ATTACK. It is only
THIS that makes you willing to engage in endless "battles" with reality, in which you DENY the reality of the need for healing by
making IT unreal.
T 11 B 3. You would not do this except for your UNWILLINGNESS to perceive reality, WHICH YOU WITHHOLD FROM
YOURSELF. It is surely good advice to tell you not to judge what you do not understand. No-one with a personal investment is a
reliable witness, for truth for him has become what he WANTS it to be. If you are unwilling to perceive an appeal for help AS
WHAT IT IS, it is because YOU are unwilling to give help, AND RECEIVE IT. The analysis of the ego's "real" motivation is the
modern equivalent of the inquisition. For in both, a brother's errors are "uncovered," and he is then attacked FOR HIS OWN
GOOD. What can this be, BUT projection? For HIS errors lay in the minds of his interpreterS, for which they punished HIM.
T 11 B 4. Whenever you fail to recognize a call for help, you are REFUSING help. Would you maintain that you do not NEED it?
Yet this IS what you are maintaining when you refuse to recognize a brother's appeal. For only by ANSWERING his appeal, can
YOU be helped. Deny him YOUR help, and you will NOT perceive God's answer to YOU. The Holy Spirit does NOT need your
help in interpreting motivation, but you DO need HIS. ONLY appreciation is an appropriate response to your brother. Gratitude is
due him for both his loving thoughts, and his appeals for help, for both are capable of bringing love into YOUR awareness, IF YOU
PERCEIVE THEM TRULY. And ALL your sense of strain comes from your attempts NOT to do just this.
T 11 B 5. How simple, then, is God's plan for salvation. There is but one response to reality, for reality evokes no conflict at all.
There is but one Teacher of Reality, Who understands what it is. He does NOT change His mind about reality, because REALITY
does not change. Although YOUR
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interpretations of reality are meaningless in your divided state, His remain consistently true. He GIVES them to you because they
are FOR you.
T 11 B 6. Do not attempt to "help" a brother in YOUR way, for you cannot help yourselves. But hear his call for the help of God,
and you will recognize your OWN need for the Father. Your interpretations of your brother's need is your interpretation of YOURS.
By giving help, you are ASKING FOR IT. And if you perceive but one need in yourself, you WILL be healed. For you will
recognize God's answer as you want it to be, and if you want it in truth, it will be truly yours. Every appeal you answer in the Name
of Christ, brings the remembrance of your Father closer to YOUR awareness. For the sake of YOUR need, then, hear every call for
help as what it is, so God can answer YOU.
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T 11 B 7. By applying the Holy Spirit's interpretation of the reactions of others more and more consistently, you will gain an
increasing awareness that HIS criteria are equally applicable to YOU. For to RECOGNIZE fear is not enough to escape FROM it,
although the recognition IS necessary to demonstrate the NEED for escape. The Holy Spirit must still TRANSLATE it into truth. If
you were LEFT with the fear, having RECOGNIZED it, you would have taken a step AWAY from reality, not toward it. Yet
we have repeatedly emphasized the need to recognize fear, and face it WITHOUT DISGUISE, as a crucial step in the undoing of the
ego. Consider how well the Holy Spirit's interpretation of the motives of others will serve you then.
T 11 B 8. Having taught you to accept only loving thoughts in others, and to regard everything else as an appeal for help, He has
taught you that FEAR is an appeal for help. This is what RECOGNIZING it really means. If you do NOT PROTECT it, HE will
re-interpret it. That is the ultimate value TO YOU in learning to perceive attack as a call for love. We have learned surely that fear
and attack are inevitably associated. If ONLY attack produces fear, and if you see attack as the call for help that it IS, the REALITY
of fear MUST dawn upon you. For fear IS a call for love, in unconscious recognition of what has been denied.
T 11 C. The Mechanism of Miracles (*N 1005 8:909)
T 11 C 1. Fear is a symptom of your deep sense of loss. If, when you perceive it in others, you learn to SUPPLY the loss, the basic
CAUSE of fear is removed. Thereby you teach yourself that fear does not exist IN YOU, for you have in YOURSELF, the means
for removing it, and have DEMONSTRATED this by GIVING it. Fear and love are the only emotions of which you are capable.
One is false, for it was made out of denial, and denial DEPENDS on the real belief in what is denied for its OWN existence.
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T 11 C 2. By interpreting fear correctly, as a POSITIVE AFFIRMATION OF THE UNDERLYING BELIEF IT MASKS, you are
undermining its perceived usefullness by rendering it useless. Defenses which do not work AT ALL are AUTOMATICALLY
discarded. If you raise what fear conceals to CLEAR-CUT, UNEQUIVOCAL PRE-DOMINANCE, fear becomes meaningless. You
have denied its power to conceal love, which was its only purpose. The mask which YOU have drawn across the face of Love has
disappeared.
T 11 C 3. If you would look upon Love, which IS the world's reality, how could you do better than to recognize, in every defense
AGAINST it, the underlying appeal FOR it? And how could you better learn of its reality, than by answering the appeal for it by
GIVING it? The Holy Spirit's interpretation of fear DOES dispel it, for the AWARENESS of truth cannot BE denied. Thus does the
Holy Spirit replace fear with love, and translate error into truth. And thus will YOU learn of Him how to replace your dream of
separation with the fact of unity. For the separation is only the DENIAL of union, and, correctly interpreted, attests to your eternal
knowledge that union is true.
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T 11 C 4. Miracles are merely the translation of denial into truth. If to love oneself is to HEAL oneself, those who are sick do NOT
love themselves. Therefore, they are asking for the love that would heal them, but which they are DENYING TO THEMSELVES.
If they knew the truth about themselves, they could not be sick. The task of the miracle-worker thus becomes to DENY THE
DENIAL OF TRUTH. The sick must heal THEMSELVES, for the truth is IN them. But, having OBSCURED it, the light in
ANOTHER mind must shine into theirs, because that light IS theirs.
T 11 C 5. The light in them shines as brightly, REGARDLESS of the density of the fog that obscures it. If you give no power to the
fog to obscure the light, it HAS none, for it has power ONLY because the Son of God gave power TO it. He must HIMSELF
withdraw that power, remembering that all power is of God. YOU CAN REMEMBER THIS FOR ALL THE SONSHIP. Do not
allow your brother not to remember, for his forgetfullness is YOURS. But YOUR remembering is HIS, for God cannot be
remembered alone. THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN. To perceive the healing of your brother as the healing of yourself,
is thus the way to remember God. For you forgot your brothers WITH Him, and God's answer to your forgetting is but the way to
remember.
T 11 C 6. Perceive in sickness but another call for love, and offer your brother what he believes he cannot offer HIMSELF.
Whatever the sickness, there is but one remedy. You will be made whole as you MAKE whole, for to perceive in sickness the
appeal for health, is to recognize in hatred the call for love. And to give a brother what he REALLY wants, is to offer it unto
yourself. For your Father wills you to know your brother AS yourself. Answer HIS call for love, and YOURS is answered. Healing
is the love of Christ for His Father, and for HIMSELF.
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T 11 C 7. You have no idea of the intensity of your wish to get rid of each other. This does NOT mean that you are not strongly
impelled TOWARD each other, but it DOES mean that LOVE IS NOT THE ONLY EMOTION. Because your love has become
more in awareness, the conflict can no longer be "settled" by your previous attempts to MINIMIZE the fear. The love makes attack
untenable, BUT YOU STILL FEEL THE FEAR. Instead of trying to resolve it directly, you have a strong tendency to TRY TO
ESCAPE FROM THE LOVE. Yet this is the LAST thing you would want to ESCAPE from. And even if you did, you can escape
from everything ELSE, but not from this. Be glad indeed that there IS no escape from salvation.
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T 11 C 8. You do not realize how much you hate each other. You will not get rid of this until you DO realize it, for UNTIL then,
you will think you want to get rid of EACH OTHER and KEEP THE HATRED. Yet if you are each other's salvation, what can this
mean except that you PREFER attack to salvation? Be glad that neither your reality nor your salvation is a matter of your
preference, for you HAVE much cause for joy. But that the cause is NOT of your making is surely obvious. You DO hate and fear
each other, and your love, which is very real, is TOTALLY obscured by it. How can you know the meaning of love UNLESS it is
total?
T 11 C 9. This will be a very difficult period for you, but it will not be so for long. You are in danger, but you WILL be helped, and
nothing will happen. But you cannot remain in darkness, and this will BE the way out. Look as calmly as you can upon hatred, for
if we are to deny the denial of truth, we must first RECOGNIZE what we are denying. Remember that knowledge PRECEDES
denial, and that the separation was a descent from magnitude to littleness. And so the way back is to retrace the way to magnitude.
T 11 C 10. Your hatred is not real, But it is real to you. IT HIDES WHAT YOU REALLY WANT. Surely you are willing to look
upon what you do NOT want without fear, EVEN IF IT FRIGHTENS YOU, if you can thereby get rid of it? For you CANNOT
escape salvation, and you WILL not escape fear until you WANT salvation. Be not afraid of this journey into fear, for it is not your
destination. And we will walk through it in safety, for peace is not far, and you will be led in its light.
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T 11 C 11. Remember what we said about the frightening perceptions of little children, which terrify them because they do not
understand them. If they ASK for enlightenment, AND ACCEPT IT, their fears vanish. But if they HIDE their nightmares, they will
KEEP them. It is easy to help an uncertain child, for he recognizes that he does not know what his perceptions mean. But you
believe you DO know. Little children, you are hiding your heads under the covers of the heavy blankets you have laid upon
yourselves. You are hiding your nightmares in the darkness of your own certainty, and refusing to open your eyes and LOOK AT
THEM.
T 11 C 12. Let us not save nightmares, for they are not fitting offerings for Christ, and so they are not fit gifts for YOU. Take off the
covers, and look at what you are afraid of. Only the ANTICIPATION will frighten you, for the reality of nothingness cannot be
frightening. Let us not delay this, for your dream of hatred will not leave you without help, and help is here. Learn to be quiet in the
midst of turmoil, for quietness is the END of strife, and this is the journey to peace. Look straight at every image that rises to delay
you, for the goal is inevitable, because it is eternal.
T 11 C 13. The goal of love is but your right, and it belongs to you DESPITE your preference. YOU STILL WILL WHAT GOD
WILLS, and no nightmare can defeat a Child of God in his purpose. For your purpose was given you by God, and you must
accomplish it, BECAUSE it is His Will. Awake and remember your purpose, for it is YOUR will to do so. What has been
accomplished FOR you MUST be yours. Do not let your hatred stand in the way of love, for NOTHING can withstand the love of
Christ for His Father, or His Father's love for Him.
T 11 C 14. A little while, and you WILL see me. For I am not hidden because you are hiding. I will awaken you as surely as I
awakened myself, for I awoke FOR you. In MY Resurrection is YOUR release. Our mission is to ESCAPE CRUCIFIXION;
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not Redemption. Trust in my help, for I did not walk alone, and I will walk with you, as our Father walked with me. Did you not
know that I walked with Him in peace? And does not that mean that peace goes with US on the journey?
T 11 C 15. There is no fear in perfect love. We will but be making perfect TO, you what is ALREADY perfect IN you. You do not
fear the UNKNOWN, but the KNOWN. You will not fail in your mission, because I failed not in mine. Give me but a little trust, in
the name of the COMPLETE trust I have in you, and we will easily accomplish the goal of perfection together. For perfection IS,
and cannot be denied. To deny the denial of perfection is not so difficult as the denial of truth. And what we can accomplish
together MUST be believed, when you SEE it as accomplished. You who have tried to banish love have not succeeded. But you
who choose to banish fear WILL succeed.
T 11 C 16. The Lord is with you, but you know it not. Yet your Redeemer liveth, and abideth in you in the peace out of which He
was created. Would you not exchange THIS awareness for the awareness of your fear? When we have OVERCOME fear, not by
hiding it, not by minimizing it, not by denying its full import in ANY way, THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL REALLY SEE. You
cannot lay aside the obstacle to real vision without looking upon it, for to lay aside means to judge AGAINST. If YOU will look,
the Holy Spirit will judge, AND WILL JUDGE TRULY. He cannot shine away what YOU keep hidden, for you have not offered it
TO Him, and He CANNOT take it FROM you.
T 11 C 17. We therefore are embarking on an organized, well-structured, and carefully planned program, aimed at learning how to
offer to the Holy Spirit everything you do NOT want. HE knows what to DO with it. You do NOT know how to use what He
knows. Whatever is revealed to Him that is not of God, is gone. But you must reveal it to YOURSELF in perfect willingness, for
otherwise His knowledge remains useless TO you. Surely He will not fail to help you, since help is His ONLY purpose. Do you not
have greater reason for fearing the world, as you perceive it, than for looking at the cause of fear, and letting it go forever?
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T 11 D. The Investment in Reality (*N 1019 8:123)
T 11 D 1. I once asked if you were willing to sell all you have, and give to the poor and follow me. This is what I meant: If you had
no investment in anything in this world, you could teach the poor where THEIR treasure IS. The poor are merely those who have
invested wrongly, and they are poor indeed! And because they are in need, it is given to you to help them, since you are among
them. Consider how perfectly your lesson would be learned, IF YOU WERE UNWILLING TO SHARE THEIR POVERTY. For
poverty is lack, and there is but one lack, since there is but one need.
T 11 D 2. Suppose a brother insists on having you do something you think you do not want to do. The very fact of his insistence
should tell you that HE BELIEVES SALVATION LIES IN IT. If you insist on refusing, and experience a quick response of
opposition, YOU are believing that YOUR salvation lies in NOT doing it. You, then, are making the same mistake that HE is, and
are making his error real to both of you. Insistence means INVESTMENT, and what you invest in is ALWAYS related to your
notion of salvation. The question is always two-fold; first, WHAT is to be saved, and second, how can it be saved?
T 11 D 3. Whenever you become angry with a brother, for WHATEVER reason, you are believing that the EGO is to be saved,
AND TO BE SAVED BY ATTACK. If HE attacks, you are agreeing with this belief, and if YOU attack, you are reinforcing it.
REMEMBER THAT THOSE WHO ATTACK ARE POOR. Their poverty asks for gifts, NOT for further impoverishment. You
who could help them are surely acting destructively, if you accept their poverty AS YOURS. If you had not invested AS THEY
HAD, it would never occur to you to overlook their need.
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T 11 D 4. RECOGNIZE WHAT DOES NOT MATTER, and if your brothers ask you for something "outrageous," do it BECAUSE
it does not matter. Refuse, and your OPPOSITION establishes that it DOES matter to you. It is only you, therefore, who have
MADE the request outrageous, for nothing can BE asked OF you, and EVERY request of a brother is FOR you. Why would you
insist in DENYING him? For to do so is to deny yourself, and impoverish both. HE is asking for salvation, as YOU are. Poverty is
of the ego, and never of God. No "outrageous" request CAN be made of one who recognizes what is valuable, and wants to accept
nothing else.
T 11 D 5. Salvation is for the mind, and it is attained through peace. This is the only thing that CAN be saved, and the ONLY way
to save it. Any response OTHER than love, arises from a confusion about the "what" and the "how" of salvation. And this is the
ONLY answer. Never lose sight of this, and never allow yourself to believe, even for an instant, that there is another answer. For
you will surely place yourself among the poor, who do not understand that they dwell in abundance and that salvation is come.
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T 11 D 6. To identify with the ego is to attack yourself, and MAKE YOURSELF POOR. That is why everyone who identifies with
the ego FEELS DEPRIVED. What he EXPERIENCES is then depression or anger, but what he DID is to exchange his self-love for
self-hate, MAKING HIM AFRAID OF HIMSELF. He does NOT realize this. Even if he is fully aware of ANXIETY, he does NOT
perceive its source AS HIS OWN EGO IDENTIFICATION, and he ALWAYS tries to handle it by making some sort of insane
"arrangement" with the world. He ALWAYS perceives this world as OUTSIDE HIMSELF, for this is crucial to his adjustment. He
does NOT realize that HE MAKES THIS WORLD, for there IS no world outside him.
T 11 D 7. If only the loving thoughts of God's Son ARE the world's reality, the real world MUST be IN HIS MIND. His insane
thoughts, too, must be in his mind, but an INTERNAL conflict of this magnitude he cannot tolerate. For a split mind IS endangered,
and the recognition that it encompasses COMPLETELY opposed thoughts within itself IS intolerable. Therefore, the mind projects
the split, NOT the reality. EVERYTHING you perceive as the outside world, is merely your attempt to maintain your ego
identification, for everyone believes that identification is salvation.
T 11 D 8. But consider what has happened, for thoughts have consequences to the thinker. You are AT ODDS with the world as you
perceive it because you think IT is antagonistic to you. This is a necessary consequence of what you have done. You have projected
outward what IS antagonistic to what is inward, and therefore you would HAVE to perceive it this way. That is why you MUST
realize that your hatred IS in your mind, and NOT OUTSIDE IT, before you can get rid of it. And why you must get rid of it,
BEFORE you can perceive the world as it really is.
T 11 D 9. Long ago we said that God so loved the world that He gave it TO His only-begotten Son. (that whosoever believeth on
him should never see death). God DOES love the real world, and those who perceive its reality
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CANNOT see the world of death. For death is not OF the real world, in which everything is eternal. God gave you the real world in
exchange for the one you made, out of your split mind, and which IS the symbol of death. For if you could REALLY separate
yourselves from the Mind of God, you WOULD die. And the world you perceive IS a world of separation.
T 11 D 10. You were willing to accept even death to deny your Father. But He would not have it so, and so it is NOT so. You still
could not will against Him, and that is why you have no control over the world you made. It is NOT a world of will, because it is
governed by the desire to be unlike Him. And this desire IS NOT WILL. The world you made is therefore totally chaotic, governed
by arbitrary and senseless "laws," and without meaning of ANY kind. For it was made out of what you do NOT want, projected
FROM your mind, because you were AFRAID of it.
T 11 D 11. Yet this world is ONLY in the mind of its maker, along with his REAL salvation. Do not believe it is outside of yourself,
for only by recognizing WHERE it is, will you gain control over it. For you DO have control over your mind, for the mind is the
mechanism of decision. If you will recognize that ALL attack which you perceive, is in your own mind, and NOWHERE ELSE,
you will at last have placed its source, and where it began it must end. For in this place also lies salvation. The altar of God, where
Christ abideth, is there.
T 11 D 12. You have defiled the altar, but NOT the world. But Christ has placed the Atonement on the altar FOR you. Bring your
perceptions of the world to this altar, for it is the altar to truth. There you will see your vision changed, and there you will learn to
see truly. From this place, where God and His Son dwell in peace, and where you are welcome, you will look out in peace, and
behold the world truly. But to find the place, you must relinquish your investment in the world as YOU have projected it, allowing
the Holy Spirit to project the real world TO you, from the altar of God.
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T 11 E. Seeking and Finding (*N 1026 8:130)
T 11 E 1. The ego is certain that love is dangerous, and this is always its central teaching. It never PUTS it this way; on the contrary,
everyone who believes that the ego is salvation is intensely engaged in the SEARCH for love. Yet the ego, though encouraging the
search very actively, makes one proviso; - do not FIND it. Its dictates, then, can be summed up simply as, "Seek and do NOT find."
This is the ONE promise that it holds out to you, and the one promise IT WILL KEEP. For the ego pursues its goal with fanatic
insistence, and its reality-testing, though severely impaired, is completely consistent.
T 11 E 2. The search which the ego undertakes is therefore bound to be defeated. And since it also teaches that IT is your
identification, its guidance leads you to a journey which MUST end in perceived SELF defeat. For the ego CANNOT love, and in
its frantic search FOR love, it is seeking WHAT IT IS AFRAID TO FIND. The SEARCH is inevitable, because the ego is part of
your mind, and because of its source, the ego is not wholly split off, or it could not be believed at all. For it is your mind that
BELIEVES in it, and gives existence TO it. Yet it is ALSO your mind that has the power to DENY its existence, and you will
surely do so when you realize exactly what the journey it sets you IS.
T 11 E 3. It is surely obvious that no-one WANTS to find WHAT WOULD UTTERLY DEFEAT HIM. Being UNABLE to love,
the ego would be totally inadequate in Love's presence, for it could not respond at all. YOU would HAVE to abandon its guidance,
for it would be quite apparent that it had NOT taught you the response pattern you NEED. The ego will therefore DISTORT love,
and teach you that LOVE calls forth the responses the ego CAN teach. Follow its teaching, then, and you will SEARCH for love,
BUT WILL NOT RECOGNIZE IT.
T 11 E 4. But DO you realize that the ego MUST set you on a journey that cannot BUT lead to a sense of futility and depression?
To seek and NOT to find is hardly joyous. Is this the promise YOU would keep? The Holy Spirit offers you another promise, and
one that will lead to joy. For
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HIS promise is always, "Seek and you WILL find," and under HIS guidance you cannot BE defeated. His is the journey to
ACCOMPLISHMENT, and the goal HE sets before you He WILL GIVE YOU. For He will never deceive God's Son, Whom He
loves with the love of the Father.
T 11 E 5. You WILL undertake a journey, because you are not at home in this world. And you WILL search for your home, whether
you know where it is or not. If you believe it is OUTSIDE yourself, the search will be futile, for you will be seeking where it is
NOT. You do not know how to look within yourself, for you DO NOT BELIEVE YOUR HOME IS THERE. Yet the Holy Spirit
knows it FOR you, and He will guide you TO your home, because that is His Mission. As He fulfills HIS mission, He will teach you
YOURS. For your mission is the same as His. By guiding your BROTHERS home, you are but following HIM.
T 11 E 6. Behold the Guide your Father gave you, that you might learn you have eternal life. For death is not your Father's Will nor
yours, and whatever is true IS the Will of the Father. You pay no price for life, for that was given you, but you DO pay a price for
death, and a very heavy one. If death is your treasure, you will sell everything else to purchase it. And you will believe that you
HAVE purchased it BECAUSE you have sold everything else. BUT YOU CANNOT SELL THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Your
inheritance can neither be bought NOR sold. There can BE no disinherited parts of the Sonship, for God is whole, and all his
extensions are like Him.
T 11 E 7. The Atonement was not the price of your wholeness, but it WAS the price of your AWARENESS of your wholeness. For
what you chose to "sell" had to be kept FOR you, since you COULD not "buy" it back. Yet YOU must invest in it, not with money,
but WITH YOUR SPIRIT. For Spirit is Will, and will IS the "price" of the Kingdom. Your inheritance awaits only the recognition
that you have BEEN redeemed. The Holy Spirit guides you into Life Eternal, but YOU must relinquish your investment in death, or
you will not see it, though it is all around you.
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T 11 F. The Sane Curriculum (*N 1031 8:135)
T 11 F 1. Only love is strong because it is UNDIVIDED. The strong do not attack, because they see no need to do so. BEFORE the
idea of attack can enter your mind, YOU MUST HAVE PERCEIVED YOURSELF AS WEAK. Because you had attacked yourself,
and BELIEVED THAT THE ATTACK WAS EFFECTIVE, you behold yourself as weakened. No longer perceiving yourself and
all your brothers as equal, AND REGARDING YOURSELF AS WEAKER, you attempt to "equalize" the situation YOU HAVE
MADE. You use attack to do so, because you believe that ATTACK WAS SUCCESSFUL IN WEAKENING YOU.
T 11 F 2. That is why the recognition of your OWN invulnerability is so important in the restoration of your sanity. For if you
accept your invulnerability, you are recognizing that ATTACK HAS NO EFFECT. Although you have attacked yourself, and very
brutally, you will demonstrate that NOTHING HAPPENED. Therefore, by attacking, you have NOT DONE ANYTHING. Once
you realize this, there is no longer any SENSE in attack, for it manifestly DOES NOT WORK, it cannot PROTECT you. But the
recognition of your invulnerability has more than merely negative value.
T 11 F 3. If your attacks on yourself FAILED to weaken you, YOU ARE STILL STRONG. You therefore HAVE no need to
"equalize" the situation to ESTABLISH your strength. But you will never realize the utter uselessness of attack, EXCEPT by
recognizing that your attack on YOURSELF had no effects. For others DO react to attack, if they perceive it, and if you ARE trying
to attack them, you will be unable to avoid interpreting this as reinforcement. The ONLY place where you can cancel out ALL
reinforcement, is IN YOURSELF. For YOU are always the first point of your attack, and if this has never been it HAS no
consequences.
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T 11 F 4. The Holy Spirit's Love is your strength, for yours is divided, and therefore not real. You could not trust your own love,
when you have ATTACKED it. You cannot learn of PERFECT love with a split mind, because a split mind HAS MADE ITSELF A
POOR LEARNER. You tried to make the separation eternal because you wanted to RETAIN the characteristics of creation, WITH
YOUR OWN CONTENT.
T 11 F 5. Creation is NOT of you, and poor learners need special teaching. You have learning handicaps in a very literal sense.
There are areas in your learning skills that are so impaired, that you can progress only under constant clear-cut direction, provided
by a teacher who can TRANSCEND your limited resources. He BECOMES your resource, because OF YOURSELF, you
CANNOT learn. The learning situation in which you place yourself IS impossible, and IN this situation, you clearly require a
special teacher, and a special curriculum.
T 11 F 6. Poor learners are not good choices for teachers, either for themselves or for anyone else. You would hardly turn to THEM
to establish the curriculum by which they can ESCAPE their limitations. If they understood what is BEYOND them, they would not
BE handicapped. You do NOT know the meaning of love, and this IS your handicap. Do not attempt to teach YOURSELVES what
you do not understand, and do not try to set up curriculum goals, where yours have clearly failed. For YOUR learning goal has been
NOT TO LEARN, and this CANNOT lead to successful learning.
T 11 F 7. You cannot transfer what you have not learned, and the impairment of the ability to generalize is a crucial learning failure.
Would you ask those who have FAILED to learn, what learning aids are FOR? THEY DO NOT KNOW. For if they could
INTERPRET the aids correctly, they would have LEARNED from them. We have said that the ego's rule is, "Seek and do NOT
find." Translated into curricular terms, this is the same as saying, "TRY to learn but DO NOT SUCCEED."
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T 11 F 8. The result of this curriculum goal is obvious. Every legitimate teaching aid, every real instruction, and every sensible
guide to learning, WILL BE MISINTERPRETED. For they are all for learning FACILITATION, which this strange curriculum
goal is AGAINST. If you are trying to learn how NOT to learn, and are using the AIM of teaching TO DEFEAT ITSELF, what can
you expect BUT confusion? The CURRICULUM does not make any sense.
T 11 F 9. This kind of learning has so weakened your mind that you CANNOT love. For the curriculum you have chosen is
AGAINST love, and amounts to a course in HOW TO ATTACK YOURSELF. A necessary minor, supplementing this major
curriculum goal, is in learning how NOT to overcome the split which made this goal believable. And YOU can NOT overcome it,
for all YOUR learning is on its BEHALF.
T 11 F 10. Yet your will speaks against your learning, as your learning speaks against your will. And so you fight AGAINST
learning, and SUCCEED, for that is your will. But you do NOT realize, even yet, that there IS something you DO will to learn, and
that you CAN learn it, because it IS your will to do so. You who have tried to learn what you do NOT will, should take heart. For
though the curriculum you set yourself is depressing indeed, it is merely ridiculous, IF YOU LOOK AT IT. Is it POSSIBLE that the
way to achieve a goal is NOT TO ATTAIN IT?
T 11 F 11. Resign NOW as your own teachers. THIS resignation will NOT lead to depression. It is merely the result of an honest
appraisal of what you have taught yourselves, and of the learning outcomes which have resulted. Under the proper learning
conditions, which you can neither provide nor understand, you will become excellent learners AND teachers. But it is not so yet,
and will not BE so until the whole learning situation, as YOU have set it up, is reversed.
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T 11 F 12. Your learning POTENTIAL, properly understood, is limitless, BECAUSE IT WILL LEAD YOU TO GOD. You can
TEACH the way to Him AND learn it, if you will follow the Teacher Who knows it, and the curriculum for learning it. The
curriculum is totally unambiguous, because the goal is NOT divided, and the means and the end are in COMPLETE accord. YOU
need offer only UNDIVIDED ATTENTION. Everything else will be GIVEN you. For it is YOUR will to learn aright, and
NOTHING can oppose the will of God's Son. His learning is as unlimited as HE is.
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T 11 G. The Vision of Christ (*N 1043 8:147/149)
T 11 G 1. The ego is trying to teach you how to gain the whole world, and lose your own Soul. The Holy Spirit teaches that you
CANNOT lose your Soul and there IS no gain in the world, for OF ITSELF, it profits nothing. To invest in something WITHOUT
profit is surely to impoverish yourself, and the overhead is high. Not only is there no profit in the investment, but the cost TO YOU
is enormous. For this investment costs you the world's reality, by DENYING YOURS, and gives you nothing in return. You
CANNOT sell your Soul, but you CAN sell your AWARENESS of it.
T 11 G 2. You cannot perceive the soul, but you will not KNOW it while you perceive anything ELSE as more valuable. The Holy
Spirit is your strength because He perceives nothing BUT your soul AS YOU. He is perfectly aware that you do NOT know
yourselves, and perfectly aware of how to teach you what you are. BECAUSE He loves you, He will gladly teach you what He
loves, for He wills to share it. Remembering you always, He cannot let you forget your worth. For the Father never ceases to remind
Him of His Son, and He never ceases to remind His Son of the Father. God is in your memory BECAUSE of Him.
T 11 G 3. You CHOSE to forget your Father, but you did NOT will to do so. And THEREFORE, you CAN decide otherwise. As it
was MY decision, so is it YOURS. YOU DO NOT WANT THE WORLD. The only thing of value in it is whatever part of it YOU
look upon with love. This GIVES it the only reality it will ever have. ITS value is NOT in itself, but yours IS in you. As self value
comes from self EXTENSION, so does the PERCEPTION of self value come from the projection of loving thoughts outward.
T 11 G 4. Make the world real unto YOURSELF, for the real world is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and so it BELONGS to you.
Correction is for all who cannot see. To open the eyes of the blind is the Holy Spirit's mission, for He knows that they have not
LOST their vision, but merely sleep. He would awaken them from the sleep of forgetting, to the remembering of God. Christ's eyes
are open, and He will look upon whatever you see with love
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if you accept His vision as yours.
T 11 G 5. The Holy Spirit keeps the vision of Christ for every Son of God who sleeps. In His sight, the Son of God is perfect, and
He longs to share His vision WITH you. He will SHOW you the real world, because God GAVE you Heaven. Through Him, your
Father calls His Son to remember. The awakening of His Son begins with his investment in the REAL world, and BY this, he will
learn to REinvest in HIMSELF. For reality is one with the Father AND the Son, and the Holy Spirit blesses the real world in Their
Name.
T 11 G 6. When you have seen this real world, as you will surely do, you WILL remember us. But you must learn the cost of
sleeping, AND REFUSE TO PAY IT. Only then will you decide to awake. And then the real world will spring to your sight, for
Christ has never slept. He is waiting to be seen, for He has never lost sight of YOU. He looks quietly on the real world, which He
would SHARE with you, because He knows of the Father's love for Him. And knowing this, He would give you what is yours.
T 11 G 7. In perfect peace, He waits for you at His Father's altar, holding out the Father's love to you, in the quiet light of the Holy
Spirit's blessing. For the Holy Spirit will lead everyone home to his Father, where Christ waits as his Self. Every Child of God is
one in Christ, for his Being is in Christ, as Christ's is in God. Christ's love for you is His love for His Father, which He knows
because He knows His Father's love for Him. When the Holy Spirit has at last led you to Christ, at the altar to His Father,
perception fuses into knowledge, because perception has become so holy that its transfer to Holiness is merely its natural extension.
T 11 G 8. Love transfers to love without ANY interference, for the situations are identical. Only the ABILITY to make this transfer
is the product of learning. As you perceive more and more common elements in ALL situations, the transfer of your training, under
the Holy Spirit's guidance increases and becomes generalized. Gradually, you learn to apply it to everyone and everything, for its
applicability IS universal. When this has been
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accomplished, perception and knowledge have become so similar that they share the unification of the Laws of God. What is One
cannot be perceived as separate, and the denial of the separation IS the reinstatement of knowledge.
T 11 G 9. At the altar of God, the holy perception of God's Son becomes so enlightened that light streams into it, and the Spirit of
God's Son shines in the Mind of the Father, and becomes one with it. Very gently does God shine upon Himself, loving the
extension of Himself which is His Son. The world has no purpose, as it blends into the Purpose of God. For the real world has
slipped quietly into Heaven, where everything eternal in it has always been. There, the Redeemer and the redeemed join in perfect
love of God, and of each other. Heaven is your home, and being in God, it must ALSO be in you.
T 11 H. The Guide for Miracles (*N 1049 8:153)
T 11 H 1. Miracles demonstrate that learning has occurred under the right guidance, for learning is invisible, and what has been
learned can be recognized ONLY by its RESULTS. Its GENERALIZATION is demonstrated as you use it in more and more
situations. You will recognize that you have learned there is no order of difficulty in miracles, when you have applied them to ALL
situations. For there IS no situation to which miracles do not apply, and by applying them TO all situations, you will gain the REAL
world. For in this holy perception, you will be made whole, and the Atonement will radiate from YOUR acceptance of it FOR
YOURSELF, to everyone the Holy Spirit sends you for your blessing.
T 11 H 2. In every Child of God His blessing lies, and in your blessing of the Children of God is His blessing to YOU. Everyone in
the world must play his part in the redemption of the world, to recognize that the world HAS BEEN redeemed. You cannot see the
invisible. But if you see its effects, YOU KNOW IT MUST BE THERE. By perceiving what it DOES, you recognize its being. And
by WHAT it does, you learn what it IS. You cannot SEE your abilities, but you gain confidence in their existence as they enable you
to ACT. And the results, of your actions you CAN see.
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T 11 H 3. The Holy Spirit is invisible, but you CAN see the results of His Presence, and through them, you will learn that He is
there. What He enables you to do is clearly NOT of this world, for miracles violate every law of reality, as this world judges it.
Every law of time and space, of magnitude and mass, of prediction and control, is transcended, for what the Holy Spirit enables you
to do is clearly beyond ALL of them. Perceiving His RESULTS, you will understand where He MUST be, and finally KNOW what
He is.
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T 11 H 4. You cannot see the Holy Spirit, but you CAN see His MANIFESTATIONS. And UNLESS YOU DO, you will not realize
He is there. Miracles are His witnesses, and speak for his Presence. What you cannot see becomes real to you only through the
witnesses who speak FOR it. For you can be AWARE of what you cannot see, and it can become compellingly real to you, as its
presence becomes manifest THROUGH you. Do His work, for you SHARE in His function. As your function in Heaven is creation,
so your function on earth is healing. God shares His function with you in Heaven, and the Holy Spirit shares HIS with you on earth.
T 11 H 5. As long as you believe you have two functions, so long will you need correction. For this belief is the DESTRUCTION of
peace, a goal in direct opposition to the Holy Spirit's purpose. You see what you expect, and you expect what you invite. Your
perception is the result of your invitation, coming to you as you sent for it. Whose manifestations would you see? Of whose
presence would you be convinced? For you will believe in what you MANIFEST, and as you look out so will you see in. Two ways
of looking at the world are in your mind, and your perception will reflect the guidance you chose.
T 11 H 6. I am the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and when you see me, it will be because you have invited Him. For He will send
you His witnesses if you will but look upon them. Remember always that you see what you seek, for what you seek you WILL find.
The ego finds what it seeks, and ONLY that. It does not find love, for that is NOT what it is seeking. But seeking and finding are the
same, and if you seek for two goals, you will FIND them, but you will RECOGNIZE NEITHER. For you will think they are the
same, BECAUSE YOU WANT THEM BOTH. The mind always strives for integration, and if it is split, and WANTS TO KEEP
THE SPLIT, it will believe it has ONE goal by MAKING IT ONE.
T 11 H 7. We said before that WHAT you project is up to you, but it is NOT up to you WHETHER to project, for projection is a
law of mind. Perception IS
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projection, and you look in BEFORE you look out. As you look IN, you choose the guide for seeing, and THEN look out, and
behold his witnesses. This is why you find what you seek. What you want IN YOURSELF you will make manifest by
PROJECTION, and you will accept it FROM the world, because you put it there BY wanting it.
T 11 H 8. When you think you are projecting what you do NOT want, it is still because you DO want it. This leads DIRECTLY to
dissociation, for it represents the acceptance of two goals, each perceived IN A DIFFERENT PLACE, separated from each other
BECAUSE YOU MADE THEM DIFFERENT. The mind then sees a divided world OUTSIDE ITSELF, but NOT within. This
gives it an illusion of integrity, and enables it to believe that IT is pursuing one goal. As long as you perceive the world as split,
YOU are not healed. For to be healed is to pursue one goal, because you have ACCEPTED only one, and WANT but one.
T 11 H 9. When you want ONLY love you will see nothing else. The contradictory nature of the witnesses you perceive is merely
the reflection of your conflicting invitations. You have looked upon your minds, and accepted opposition there, having SOUGHT it
there. But do not then believe that the witnesses FOR opposition are true for they attest only to your DECISION about reality,
returning to you the message you GAVE them. Love is recognized by its messengers. If you make it manifest, its messengers will
come to you, because you INVITED them.
T 11 H 10. The power of decision is your one remaining freedom as a prisoner of this world. YOU CAN DECIDE TO SEE IT
RIGHT. What you MADE of it is NOT its reality, for its reality is only what you GAVE it. You cannot REALLY give anything
BUT love to anyone or anything, nor can you really receive anything else FROM them. If you think you have received anything
ELSE, it is because you have looked within, and thought you saw the power to GIVE something else WITHIN YOURSELF. It was
only THIS decision that
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determined what you found, for it was the decision OF WHAT YOU SOUGHT.
T 11 H 11. You are afraid of me because you looked within, and are afraid of what you saw. Yet you COULD not have seen reality,
for the reality of your mind is the loveliest of God's Creations. Coming only from God, its power and grandeur could only bring you
peace, IF YOU REALLY LOOKED UPON IT. If you are afraid, it is because you saw something THAT IS NOT THERE. Yet in
this same place you could have looked upon me and all your brothers, in the perfect safety of the Mind that created us. For we are
there in the peace of the Father, Who wills to PROJECT His peace through YOU.
T 11 H 12. When you have accepted your mission to PROJECT peace, you will FIND it. For by MAKING IT MANIFEST you will
SEE it. Its holy witnesses will surround you, because you CALLED UPON THEM, and they will come to you. I HAVE heard your
call, and I have answered it, but you will not look upon me nor hear the answer which you sought. But that is only because you do
not yet want ONLY that. Yet as I become more real to you, you will learn that you DO want only that. And you will see me as you
look within, and we will look upon the world as God created it together. Through the eyes of Christ, ONLY the real world exists,
and can BE seen.
T 11 H 13. As you decide so will you see. And all that you see but witnesses to your decision. When you look within and see me, it
will be because you have decided to manifest truth. And as you manifest it, you will see it both without AND within, for you will
see it without BECAUSE you saw it first within. Everything you behold without is a JUDGMENT of what you beheld within. If it is
YOUR judgment, it will be wrong, for judgment is not your function. If it is the judgment of the Holy Spirit, it will be right, for
judgment IS His function. You share His function only by judging AS HE DOES, reserving no judgment at all unto yourselves. For
you will judge AGAINST yourselves, but He will judge FOR you.
T 11 H 14. Remember, then, that whenever you look without and react unfavorably to what you see, you have judged yourself
unworthy, and have condemned yourself
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to death. The death penalty is the ego's ultimate goal, for it fully believes that you are a criminal, as deserving of death as God
knows you are deserving of life. The death penalty never leaves the ego's mind, for that is what it always reserves for you in the
end. Wanting to kill you, as the final expression of its feeling for you, it lets you live but to await death. It will torment you while
you live, but its hatred is not satisfied until you die. For your destruction is the one end toward which it works, and the only one
with which it will be satisfied.
T 11 H 15. The ego is not a traitor to God to Whom treachery is impossible. But it IS a traitor TO YOU who believe you have been
treacherous to your Father. That is why the undoing of GUILT is an essential part of the Holy Spirit's teaching. For as long as you
feel guilty, you are listening to the voice of the ego, which tells you that you HAVE been treacherous to God, AND THEREFORE
DESERVE DEATH. You will think that death comes from Him, AND NOT FROM THE EGO, because, by confusing yourself
WITH the ego, you believe that YOU want death. And from what you want God does NOT save you.
T 11 H 16. When you are tempted to yield to the desire for death, remember that I DID NOT DIE. You will realize that this is true
when you look within and SEE me. Would I have overcome death for myself alone? And would eternal life have been given me of
the Father UNLESS he had also given it to YOU? When you learn to make ME manifest, YOU will never see death. For you will
have looked upon the deathless IN YOURSELF, and you will see only the eternal, as you look out upon a world that cannot die.
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T 11 I. Reality and Redemption (*N 1059 8:163)
T 11 I 1. Do you REALLY believe that you can kill the Son of God? For the Father has hidden His Son safely within Himself, and
kept him far away from your destructive thoughts, but YOU know neither the Father nor the Son because of them. You ATTACK
the real world every day and every hour and every minute, and yet you are surprised that you cannot SEE it. If you seek love to
attack it, YOU WILL NEVER FIND IT. For if love is SHARING, how can you find it except through ITSELF? Offer it and it will
come to you, because it is drawn to itself. But offer attack and it will remain hidden, for it can live only in peace.
T 11 I 2. God's Son is as safe as his Father, for the Son knows his Father's protection and CANNOT fear. His Father's love holds
him in perfect peace, and needing nothing, he asks for nothing. But he is far from you whose Self he is, for you chose to attack him,
and he disappeared from your sight into his Father. HE did not change, but YOU did. For a split mind and all its works were not
created by the Father, and could not live in the knowledge OF Him.
T 11 I 3. When you made what is NOT true visible, what is true became INVISIBLE. Yet it cannot be invisible in ITSELF, for the
Holy Spirit sees it with perfect clarity. It IS invisible to you, because you are looking at SOMETHING ELSE. Yet it is no more up
to you to decide what is visible and what is invisible, than it is up to you to decide what reality is. What can be seen is WHAT THE
HOLY SPIRIT SEES. The definition of reality is God's, not yours. HE created it, and He knows what it is. You who knew have
forgotten. And unless He had given you a way to remember, you would have condemned yourselves to oblivion.
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T 11 I 4. Because of your Father's love, you can NEVER forget Him. For no-one can forget what God Himself placed in his
memory. You can DENY it, but you CANNOT LOSE IT. A Voice will answer every question you ask, and a vision will correct the
perception of everything you see. For what you have made invisible is the only truth, and what you have not heard is the only
answer. For God would reunite you with yourself, and did not abandon you in your seeming distress. You are waiting only for Him,
and do not know it. But His memory shines in your minds, and cannot BE obliterated. It is no more past than future, being forever
always.
T 11 I 5. You have but to ask for this memory, and you WILL remember. But the memory of God cannot shine in a mind which has
MADE it invisible, and WANTS TO KEEP IT SO. For the memory of God can dawn only in a mind that wills to remember, and
that has relinquished the insane desire to control reality. You who cannot even control yourselves, should hardly aspire to control
the universe. But look upon what you have made of it, and rejoice that it is not so.
T 11 I 6. Son of God, be not content with nothing. What is not real cannot BE seen, and has NO value. God could not offer His Son
what has no value, nor could His Son receive it. You were redeemed the instant you thought you had deserted Him. Everything you
made has never been, and is invisible because the Holy Spirit does not see it. Yet what He DOES see is yours to behold, and through
HIS vision YOUR perception is healed. You have made the INvisible the only truth that this world holds. Valuing nothing, you
have sought it and found it. By making nothing real to you, you have SEEN it.
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T 11 I 7. BUT IT IS NOT THERE. And Christ is invisible to you BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU HAVE MADE VISIBLE TO
YOURSELVES. Yet it does not matter how much distance you have tried to interpose between your awareness and Truth. God's
Son CAN be seen, because His Vision is shared. The Holy Spirit looks upon Him, and sees nothing else in you. What is invisible to
you is perfect in His sight, and encompasses ALL of it. He has remembered YOU because He forgot not the Father.
T 11 I 8. You looked upon the unreal and found despair. But by SEEKING the unreal, what else COULD you find? The UNreal
world IS a thing of despair, for it can never be. And you who share God's Being with Him, could never be content WITHOUT
reality. What God did not give you has no power over you, and the attraction of love for love remains irresistible. For it is the
function of love to unite all things unto itself, and to hold all things together by extending its wholeness.
T 11 I 9. The real world was given you by God, in loving exchange for the world YOU made, and which you SEE. But take it from
the hand of Christ, and look upon it. Its reality will make everything ELSE invisible, for beholding it is TOTAL perception. And as
you look upon it, you will remember that it was always so. Nothingness will become invisible, for you will at last have seen truly.
Redeemed perception is easily translated into knowledge, for ONLY perception is capable of error. And perception has never been.
Being corrected, it gives place to knowledge, which is forever the ONLY reality. The Atonement is but the way back to what was
never lost. Your Father could not cease to love His Son.
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T 11 J. Guiltlessness and Invulnerability (*N 1064 8:168)
T 11 J 1. If you did not feel guilty, you could not attack. For condemnation is the root of attack. It is the judgment of one mind by
another as UNWORTHY of love, and DESERVING of punishment. But herein lies the split. For the mind that judges, perceives
itself as SEPARATE from the mind being judged, believing that by punishing ANOTHER, IT will escape punishment. All this is
but the delusional attempt of the mind to deny itself, and ESCAPE THE PENALTY OF DENIAL. It is NOT an attempt to
RELINQUISH denial, but to HOLD ON TO IT. For it is guilt that has obscured the Father to you, and it is guilt that has driven you
insane. The acceptance of guilt into the mind of God's Son was the beginning of the separation, as the acceptance of the Atonement
is its end.
T 11 J 2. The world you see is the delusional system of those made mad by guilt. Look carefully at this world, and you will realize
that this is so. For this world is the symbol of punishment, and all the laws which seem to govern it are the laws of death. Children
are born into it through pain and in pain. Their growth is attended by suffering, and they learn of sorrow and separation and death.
Their minds are trapped in their brain, and its powers decline if their bodies are hurt. They seem to love, yet they desert, and are
deserted. They appear to lose what they love, perhaps the most insane belief of all. And their bodies wither and gasp and are laid in
the ground, and seem to be no more. Not one of them but has thought that God is cruel.
T 11 J 3. If this were the real world, God WOULD be cruel. For no father could subject his children to this as the price of salvation,
and be loving. LOVE DOES NOT KILL TO SAVE. For if it did, attack WOULD be salvation, and this is the ego's interpretation,
NOT God's.
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Only the world of guilt could demand this, for only the guilty could CONCEIVE of it. Adam's "sin" could have touched none of
you, had you not believed that it was the FATHER Who drove him out of Paradise. For it is in THAT belief that knowledge of the
Father was lost, for it is only those who do not understand Him that COULD believe it.
T 11 J 4. This world IS a picture of the crucifixion of God's Son. And until you realize that God's Son CANNOT be crucified, this
is the world you will see. But you will NOT realize this, until you accept the eternal fact that GOD's SON IS NOT GUILTY. He
DESERVES only love, because he has GIVEN only love. He cannot be condemned, because he has never condemned. The
Atonement is the final lesson he need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, HE HAS NO NEED OF SALVATION.
T 11 J 5. Long ago we said that the Holy Spirit shares the goal of all good teachers, whose ultimate aim is to make themselves
unnecessary, by teaching their pupils all they know. The Holy Spirit wills ONLY this, for sharing the Father's love for His Son, He
wills to remove all guilt from his mind, that he may remember his Father in peace. For peace and guilt are antithetical, and the
Father can BE remembered ONLY in peace. Love and guilt cannot coexist, and to accept one is to DENY the other.
T 11 J 6. Guilt hides Christ from your sight, for it is the denial of the blamelessness of God's Son. In this strange world which you
have made, the Son of God HAS sinned. How could you SEE him, then? By making HIM invisible, the world of retribution rose in
the black cloud of guilt which you accepted, and you hold it dear. For the blamelessness of Christ is the proof that the ego never
was, and can never be. Without guilt the ego HAS no life, and God's Son
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IS without guilt.
T 11 J 7. As you look upon yourselves and judge what you do honestly, as you have been asked to do, you may be tempted to
wonder how you can be guiltless. But consider this. You are NOT guiltless in time, but IN ETERNITY. You HAVE "sinned" IN
THE PAST, but there IS no past. Always has no direction. Time seems to go in one direction, but when you reach its end, it will roll
up like a long carpet that has spread along the past behind you, and will disappear. As long as you believe the Son of God is guilty,
you will walk along this carpet, believing that it leads to death. And the journey will seem long and cruel and senseless, for so it is.
T 11 J 8. The journey which the Son of God has set HIMSELF is foolish indeed. But the journey on which his Father sets him is one
of release and joy. The Father is not cruel, and His Son CANNOT hurt himself. The retaliation which he fears, AND WHICH HE
SEES, will never touch him, for although he BELIEVES in it, the Holy Spirit KNOWS it is not true. He stands at the end of time,
where YOU must be, because He is WITH you. He has ALWAYS undone everything unworthy of the Son of God, for such was His
mission, given BY God. And what God gives HAS always been.
T 11 J 9. You will see me as you learn the Son of God is guiltless. He has always sought his guiltlessness, and he has FOUND it.
For everyone is seeking to escape from the prison he has made, and the way to find release is not denied him. Being IN him, he has
found it. WHEN he finds it is only a matter of time, and time is but an illusion. For the Son of God is guiltless NOW, and the
brightness of his purity shines untouched forever in God's Mind. God's Son will ALWAYS be as he was created. Deny YOUR
world, and judge him not. For his eternal guiltlessness is in the mind of his Father, and protects him forever.
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T 11 J 10. When you have accepted the Atonement for yourselves, you will realize that THERE IS NO GUILT IN GOD's SON.
And ONLY as you look upon him as guiltless, can you understand his Oneness. For the IDEA of guilt brings a belief of
condemnation of one by another, projecting separation in place of unity. You can condemn only yourself, and by doing so, you
cannot know that you are God's Son. For you have denied the condition of his Being, which is his perfect blamelessness. Out of
Love he was created, and in Love he abides. Goodness and mercy have always followed him, for he has always extended the Love
of his Father.
T 11 J 11. As you perceive the holy companions who travel with you, you will realize that there IS no journey, but only an
awakening. The Son of God, who sleepeth not, has kept faith with his Father FOR you. There is no road to travel ON, and no time
to travel THROUGH. For God waits not for His Son in time, being forever unwilling to be without him. And so it has always been.
Let the holiness of God's Son shine away the cloud of guilt that darkens your mind, and by accepting his purity AS yours, learn of
him that it IS yours.
T 11 J 12. You are invulnerable BECAUSE you are guiltless. You can hold on to the past ONLY through guilt. For guilt establishes
that you WILL BE punished for what you have done, and thus depends on one-dimensional time, proceeding from past to future.
No-one who believes this, can understand what ALWAYS means. And therefore guilt MUST deprive you of the appreciation of
eternity. You are immortal BECAUSE you are eternal, and always MUST be now. Guilt, then, is a way of holding past and future in
your minds, to ensure the ego's continuity. For if what HAS BEEN WILL BE punished, it's continuity WOULD be guaranteed.
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T 11 J 13. But the guarantee of your continuity is God's, not the ego's. And immortality is the opposite of time, for time passes
away, while immortality is constant Accepting the Atonement teaches you WHAT IMMORTALITY IS, for by accepting your
guiltlessness, you learn that the past has never been, and so the future is needless. The future IN TIME is ALWAYS associated with
expiation, and ONLY guilt could induce a sense of NEED for expiation. Accepting the guiltlessness of the Son of God AS YOURS
is therefore God's way of reminding you of His Son, and what he is in truth. For God has never condemned His Son, and being
guiltless, he IS eternal.
T 11 J 14. You cannot dispel guilt by making it real, and THEN atoning for it. For this is the ego's plan, which it offers INSTEAD
of dispelling it. The ego believes in ATONEMENT THROUGH ATTACK, being fully committed to the insane notion that attack IS
salvation. And YOU who cherish guilt must ALSO believe it, for how else but by identifying WITH the ego, could you hold dear
what you do not want?
T 11 J 15. The ego teaches you to attack yourself BECAUSE you are guilty, and this MUST INCREASE the guilt, for guilt is the
RESULT of attack. In the ego's teaching, then, there IS no escape from guilt. For attack MAKES GUILT REAL, and if it is real
there IS no way to overcome it. The Holy Spirit dispels it simply through the calm recognition that it has never been. As He looks
upon the guiltless Son of God, he KNOWS this is true. And being true for you, you CANNOT attack yourself, for WITHOUT guilt,
attack is impossible. You, then, ARE saved BECAUSE God's Son is guiltless. And being wholly pure, you ARE invulnerable.
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CHAPTER 12 – THE PROBLEM OF GUILT
T 12 A. Introduction (*N 1075 8:179)
T 12 A 1. The ultimate purpose of projection, as the ego uses it, is ALWAYS to get rid of guilt. But, characteristically, it attempts to
get rid of it FROM ITS VIEWPOINT ONLY. For much as the ego wants to RETAIN guilt, YOU find it intolerable. For guilt stands
in the way of your remembering God, Whose pull is so strong that YOU cannot resist it. On this issue, then, the deepest split of all
occurs, for if you are to RETAIN guilt, as the ego insists, YOU CANNOT BE YOU. Only by persuading you that IT is you, could
the ego possibly induce you to PROJECT guilt, and thereby keep it in your mind.
T 12 A 2. But consider how strange a solution the ego's arrangement is. You PROJECT guilt to get rid of it, but you actually merely
conceal it. You DO experience guilt FEELINGS, but you have NO IDEA OF WHY. On the contrary, you associate them with a
weird assortment of EGO ideals, which the ego claims you have failed. But you have no idea that you are failing the Son of God, by
seeing HIM as guilty. Believing you are no longer YOU, you do not realize that you are failing YOURSELF.
T 12 B. Crucifixion by Guilt (*N 1076 8:180)
T 12 B 1. The darkest of your hidden cornerstones holds your belief in guilt from your own awareness. For in that dark and secret
place is the realization that you have betrayed God's Son, by condemning him to death. You do not even SUSPECT that this
murderous but insane idea lies hidden there. For the ego's destructive urge is so intense, that nothing short of the crucifixion of
God's Son can ultimately satisfy it. It does not know who the Son of God IS, because it is blind. But let it perceive guiltlessness
ANYWHERE, and it will try to destroy it, because it is afraid.
T 12 B 2. Much of the ego's strange behavior is directly attributable to its definition of guilt. To the ego, THE GUILTLESS ARE
GUILTY. Those who do NOT attack are its "enemies," because, by NOT VALUING its interpretation of salvation, they are in an
excellent position to LET IT GO. They have approached the darkest and deepest cornerstone in the ego's foundation, and while it
can withstand your raising all else to question, it guards this one secret with
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its life, for its existence DOES depend on keeping this secret. And it is this secret that we must look upon calmly, for the ego cannot
protect you AGAINST truth, and in its presence the ego is dispelled.
T 12 B 3. In the calm light of truth, let us recognize that YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE CRUCIFIED GOD's SON. You have not
admitted this "terrible" secret, because you still wish to crucify him, IF YOU COULD FIND HIM. But the wish has hidden him
from you, because it is very fearful, AND YOU ARE AFRAID TO FIND HIM. You have handled this wish TO KILL YOURSELF
by NOT KNOWING WHO YOU ARE, and identifying with something ELSE. You have projected guilt blindly and
indiscriminately, but you have NOT uncovered its source. For the ego DOES want to kill you, and if you identify WITH it, you
MUST believe ITS GOAL IS YOURS.
T 12 B 4. We once said that the crucifixion is the symbol of the ego. When it was confronted with the REAL guiltlessness of God's
Son, it DID attempt to kill him. And the reason it gave was that guiltlessness is blasphemous to God. To the ego, THE EGO IS
GOD, and guiltlessness MUST be interpreted AS THE FINAL GUILT WHICH FULLY JUSTIFIES MURDER. You do not yet
understand that ALL your fear of this course stems ultimately from this interpretation, but if you will consider your reactions TO it,
you will become increasingly convinced that this is so.
T 12 B 5. This course has explicitly stated that its goal FOR YOU is happiness and peace. Yet you are AFRAID of it. You have
been told again and again that it will make you free, yet you react as if it is trying to IMPRISON you. Most of the time you
DISMISS it, BUT YOU DO NOT DISMISS THE EGO's THOUGHT SYSTEM. You HAVE seen its results and you STILL lack
faith in it. You MUST, then, believe that, by NOT learning the course, YOU ARE PROTECTING YOURSELF. And you do NOT
realize that it is only your guiltlessness that CAN protect you.
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T 12 B 6. The Atonement has always been interpreted as the release from guilt, and this is correct, if it is understood. Yet even when
I have interpreted it FOR you, you have rejected it, and have NOT accepted it FOR YOURSELF. You have recognized the futility
of the ego and its offerings, but though you do not want it, you will not look upon the alternative with gladness. YOU ARE
AFRAID OF REDEMPTION, and YOU BELIEVE IT WILL KILL YOU. Make no mistake about the depth of your fear. For you
believe that, in the presence of truth, you will turn on yourself and DESTROY yourself.
T 12 B 7. Little children, this is not so. Your "guilty secret" is nothing, and if you will but bring it to light, the Light WILL dispel it.
And then no dark cloud will remain between you and the remembrance of your Father. For you will remember His guiltless Son,
who did not die because he is immortal. And you will see that you were redeemed WITH him, and have never been separated
FROM him. In THIS understanding lies your remembering, for it is the recognition of love WITHOUT fear. There will be great joy
in Heaven on your homecoming, and the joy will be YOURS. For the redeemed son of man IS the guiltless Son of God, and to
recognize HIM, IS your redemption.
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T 12 C. The Fear of Redemption (*N 1082 8:186)
T 12 C 1. You may wonder why it is so crucial that you look upon your hatred, and realize its full extent. And you may think that it
would be easy enough for the Holy Spirit to show it to you, and dispel it WITHOUT the need for you to raise it to awareness
yourself. But there is one more complication which you have interposed between yourself and the Atonement, that you do not yet
realize. We have said that no-one will countenance fear, IF HE RECOGNIZES IT. But in your disordered state, YOU ARE NOT
AFRAID OF FEAR. You do not LIKE it, but it is NOT your desire to attack which really frightens you. You are not seriously
disturbed by your hostility. You keep it hidden, because you are MORE afraid of what it covers.
T 12 C 2. You could look even upon the ego's darkest cornerstone WITHOUT fear, if you did not believe that, WITHOUT THE
EGO, you would find, within yourself, something you fear even more. YOU ARE NOT AFRAID OF CRUCIFIXION. Your real
terror is of REDEMPTION. Under the ego's dark foundation is the memory of God, and it is of THIS that you are really afraid. For
this memory would INSTANTLY restore you to your proper place, and it is THIS place that you have sought to LEAVE.
T 12 C 3. Your fear of attack is nothing, compared to your fear of love. You would be willing to look upon your savage wish to kill
God's Son, IF YOU DID NOT BELIEVE THAT IT SAVES YOU FROM LOVE. For this wish CAUSED the separation. You have
protected it, because you do not WANT the separation healed, and you realize that, by REMOVING the dark cloud that obscures it,
your love for your Father would IMPEL you to answer His call, and leap into Heaven. You believe that attack is salvation, to
PREVENT you from this. For still deeper than the ego's foundation, and MUCH stronger than IT will ever be, is your intense and
burning love of God, AND HIS FOR YOU.
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T 12 C 4. THIS IS WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO HIDE. In honesty, is it not harder for you to say "I love" than "I hate?" For
you associate love with weakness and hatred with strength, and your REAL power seems to you as your real weakness. For you
could NOT control your joyous response to the call of love if you heard it, and the whole world you THINK you control WOULD
vanish. The Holy Spirit, then, seems to be ATTACKING YOUR FORTRESS, for you would SHUT OUT GOD, and He does not
will to BE excluded.
T 12 C 5. You have built your whole insane belief system, because you think you would be HELPLESS in God's Presence. And
you would SAVE yourself from His love, because you think it would crush you into nothingness. You are afraid it would sweep you
AWAY from yourself, AND MAKE YOU LITTLE. For you believe that magnitude lies in defiance, and attack is grandeur. YOU
THINK YOU HAVE MADE A WORLD THAT GOD WOULD DESTROY. And by loving Him, WHICH YOU DO, you would
throw this world away, WHICH YOU WOULD.
T 12 C 6. Therefore, you have used the world to COVER YOUR LOVE, and the deeper you go into the blackness of the ego's
foundation, the CLOSER you come to the Love that is hidden beneath it. AND IT IS THIS THAT FRIGHTENS YOU. You can
accept insanity, BECAUSE YOU MADE IT. But you cannot accept love, BECAUSE YOU DID NOT. You would rather be slaves
of the crucifixion, than Sons of God in redemption. For your INDIVIDUAL death is more valued than your living Oneness, and
what is GIVEN you, is not so dear as what you MADE. You are more afraid of God than of the ego, and love cannot enter where it
is not welcome. But hatred CAN, for it enters of ITS will, and cares not for YOURS.
T 12 C 7. The reason you must look upon your delusions, and not keep them hidden, is that THEY DO NOT REST ON THEIR
OWN FOUNDATION. In concealment, they APPEAR to do so, and thus they seem to be SELF-SUSTAINED. THIS is the
fundamental illusion on which they rest. For BENEATH them, and concealed as long as THEY are hidden, is the loving mind that
THOUGHT it made them in anger. And the pain in this mind is so apparent, when it is uncovered, that its need of healing cannot BE
denied. Not all the tricks and games that you have offered it can heal it,
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for HERE is the REAL crucifixion of God's Son.
T 12 C 8. And yet he is NOT crucified. For here is both his pain AND his healing, for the Holy Spirit's vision is merciful, and His
remedy is quick. Do not HIDE suffering from His sight, but bring it gladly TO Him. Lay before His eternal sanity ALL your hurt,
and LET Him heal you. Do not leave any spot of pain hidden from His Light, and search your minds carefully for any thoughts
which you may fear to uncover. For He will heal every little thought that you have kept to hurt you, and cleanse it of its littleness,
restoring it to the magnitude of God.
T 12 C 9. Beneath all your grandiosity, which you hold so dear, is your real call for help. For you call for love to your Father, as
your Father calls you to Himself. In that place, which you have hidden, you will only to unite with the Father, in loving
remembrance of Him. You will find this place of truth as you see it in your brothers, for though they may deceive themselves, like
you they long for the grandeur that is in them. And perceiving it you will WELCOME it, and it will be yours. For grandeur is the
RIGHT of God's Son, and no illusions can satisfy him, or save him from what he IS.
T 12 C 10. Only his love is real, and he will be content ONLY with his reality. Save him from his illusions, that you may accept the
magnitude of your Father in peace and joy. But exempt no-one from your love, or you will be hiding a dark place in your minds,
where the Holy Spirit is not welcome. And you will exempt YOURSELF from His healing power, for by not offering total love,
YOU will not be healed completely. And healing must be as complete as fear, for love cannot enter where there is one spot of fear
to mar its welcome.
T 12 C 11. You who prefer specialness to sanity could not obtain it in your right minds. You were at peace until you asked for
special favor, and God did not give it. For the request was alien to Him, and you could not ask this of a Father who truly loved His
Son. Therefore, you made of Him an UNloving father, demanding of Him what only such a father COULD give. And the peace of
God's Son was shattered,
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for he no longer understood his Father. He feared what he had made, but still more did he fear his REAL Father, having attacked his
glorious equality WITH Him.
T 12 C 12. In peace he needed nothing, and asked for nothing. In war he DEMANDED everything, and FOUND nothing. For how
could the gentleness of love respond to his demands, EXCEPT by departing in peace, and returning to the Father? If the Son did not
wish to REMAIN in peace, he could not remain at all. For a darkened mind cannot live in the light, and it must seek a place of
darkness, where it can believe it is where it is NOT. God did not ALLOW this to happen. But you DEMANDED that it happen, and
therefore believed that it was so.
T 12 C 13. To SINGLE OUT is to MAKE ALONE, and thus MAKE LONELY. God did not do this to you. Could He SET YOU
APART, KNOWING that your peace lies in His Oneness? He denied you only your request for pain, for suffering is not of His
creation. Having GIVEN you creation, He could not take it FROM you. He could but answer your insane request with a sane
answer, which would abide with you in your insanity. AND THIS HE DID. No-one who hears His answer but will give up insanity.
For His answer is the reference point BEYOND delusions, from which you can look back on them, and see them as insane. But seek
this place and you WILL find it, for Love is in you, and will lead you there.
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T 12 D. Healing and Time (*N 1091 8:195)
T 12 D 1. And now the reason why you are afraid of this course should be apparent. For this is a course on love, because it is about
YOU. You have been told that your function in this world is healing, and your function in Heaven is creating. The ego teaches that
your function on earth is destruction, and that you have no function AT ALL in Heaven. It would thus destroy you here, and bury
you here, leaving you no inheritance except the dust out of which it thinks you were made. While it is reasonably satisfied with you,
as its reasoning goes, it offers you oblivion. When it becomes overtly savage, it offers you hell.
T 12 D 2. Yet neither oblivion nor hell is as unacceptable to you as Heaven. For your definition of Heaven IS hell and oblivion, and
the REAL Heaven is the greatest threat you think you COULD experience. For hell and oblivion are ideas which YOU made up,
and you are bent on DEMONSTRATING their reality, TO ESTABLISH YOURS. If THEIR reality is questioned, you believe that
YOURS is. For you believe that ATTACK established your reality, and that your DESTRUCTION is the final proof THAT YOU
WERE RIGHT.
T 12 D 3. Under the circumstances, would it not be MORE DESIRABLE to have been wrong, even apart from the fact that you
WERE wrong? For while it could perhaps be argued that death suggests there WAS