“Accept your genius and say what you think.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
One more day of review. YOU CAN DO IT!
1. God is the Love in which I forgive.
2. God is the strength in which I trust.
3. There is nothing to fear.
4. God’s Voice speaks to me all through the day.
5. I am sustained by the Love of God.
How could you possibly have any problems? That’s the big question to ask yourself.
The only way you could have problems is if you doubt these lessons are true. If you believed them, you would be forever happy.
Yesterday I had an amazing idea that we pray for help, and then Jesus shows up (in any numerous forms, in all shapes & sizes) and tells us exactly what to do to be happy – his instructions can be found in Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 in the bible, or in any of the lessons in A Course in Miracles. He’s literally giving us the answer to our prayers, telling us exactly what to do, but here’s the question:
Are you following his instruction?
Are you doing EXACTLY as Jesus asks, or are you making some exceptions?
Are you shining your light before men and glorifying your Father which is in Heaven?
Does your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees?
The Course becomes true when you become uncompromising.
Read Sermon on the Mount and ask yourself if you are following Jesus’ instructions.
It says don’t be angry with a brother. That’s simple instruction and uncompromising. It says if someone sues you, give him your coat AND your cloak. In other words, give him everything. It says if someone asks you to go with him a mile, go with him twain. Which means, go twice as far as you are asked. What reason could you possibly have for saying no if someone asks you for help? So the question is: are you living these commandments? Do you make them a part of your daily life?
Jesus says:
“I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.”
Do you do that? Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray from them which despitefully use you and persecute you.
Pretty amazing. If you wonder why miracles are not occurring for you, ask yourself if you are really following Jesus’ instruction to the letter.
My friend Jeff said a great thing the other day: “you can’t get through the eye of a needle with a chip on your shoulder.”
ha.
That’s awesome.
You must let go of all grievances and anger. Don’t try to organize “how” to let it go, just let it go. For the Love of God, let it go.
The place where you will get trapped is still trying to organize what other people are doing to you or not doing to you. Your need to be right. This will trap you every time. You will wait for someone else to forgive or for circumstances to change or to be different … and I will tell you this … you will be waiting a VERY LONG TIME.
Meanwhile, YOU stay trapped in hell.
You can’t get through the eye of a needle with a chip on your shoulder.
You just won’t fit.
But as you follow Jesus, your life will become one big miracle. Try it.
I dare you to follow Jesus. You will be amazed by what happens as you follow his word.
QUESTION FROM A READER:
Lisa,
I am writing on the premise that we are kind of going along together. So I will ask, and then listen to your take on this subject. I also ask assuming from your writing that you have felt the rage and subsequent depression strongly.
Any thoughts on being “ok” with feeling these emotions when they come up before I am ready to forgive. Because sooner or later I will forgive (sooner of course I hope) but sometimes the emotion is just too strong, or it sneaks up on me. I’ll listen. And you don’t have to answer if you don’t want.
MY RESPONSE:
Yes. We are going along together and I am grateful for all questions.
Yes. I’ve known incredible rage and deep futility along with depression. Don’t forget those emotions ARE THE JOURNEY. You are allowing yourself to be “undone”. The awakening process is simply letting all that was buried deep in your mind and cells now come to the surface. You look at it. Acknowledge it. And give it to the Holy Spirit, recognizing it’s unreality. That’s true forgiveness. You are being loosened from hell. So yes, it’s gonna hurt a little. and as you do not give in to being pulled by gravity to form anymore, all those emotions which were buried for so long start bubbling to the surface and are felt more deeply than ever before.
my experience is that BEFORE THE COURSE I had a very high threshold for pain, and now WITH THE COURSE I have a low tolerance. i feel everything deeply.
The fastest way for it to dissolve is: DON’T NAME IT.
Just give it to the Holy Spirit, saying: Thank you. Take this. I don’t need it. I am whole and perfect as God created me.
Let rage be intense energy, and then you will be able to accept it.
It might even become a little fun. Who knows?!
Accept everything exactly as it is.
When things are falling apart, be in a state of gratitude.
When you are depressed, give thanks for the experience.
Don’t name anything cause that just makes it solid.
realize that the idea of rage must be based on something you learned from before this moment, otherwise how could you name it?
it’s just energy.
let everything be exactly as it is, and have a willingness to pass through all energies – the ones that feel comfortable along with the ones that feel uncomfortable. the “bad” along with the “good”. The ‘happy” along with the “sad.”
do you see how we name everything?
I find that any discomfort that I am experiencing is only uncomfortable because it is unfamiliar. It is a new frequency of energy. Recognizing it in this way, it doesn’t bother me so much. I just say: THANK YOU GOD THAT I AM HAVING A NEW EXPERIENCE.
and then it passes. Sometimes it disappears immediately. Sometimes it takes longer, but it doesn’t matter anymore.
I think i wrote in my book about the time my head was paralyzed for a week. ?? Did you read it? This past year I became paralyzed (literally) and it was the most intense pain i have ever experienced, but i kept “not naming it” and trusting that whatever was happening was happening perfectly, and then as quickly as it came on, it disappeared.
I hope this is helpful.
just stay in a state of acceptance and gratitude. That’s my advice.
Love, lisa
I had the most frigging amazing day ever yesterday, and today is going to be EVEN BETTER.
It was one miraculous encounter after another. I feel like the dam gates are open. Like I’ve been plodding along with nothing happening then WHAMMO – there is flooding.
I want you to remember that you are planting seeds. Things are happening beyond what your body’s eyes can see, and so do not get discouraged when it looks like “nothing is happening.”
Take it from me … I know.
I’ve been on this path over 10 years and there are many plains and valleys, and dips and mountains. Stretches of dry land where you can’t see for miles and days and months.
Keep going. As you practice these lessons, and change your mind, everything is shifting. You are making progress. Trust me. You won’t be able to see it as you cross the desert but one day – WHAMMO – you see the horizon. You see new signs of life. The location suddenly is different, and you realize that all that time when you thought nothing was happening you were actually progressing in the right direction.
Your map and Guide is A Course in Miracles.
My personal experience has been that my life goes in waves. I go through periods when it seems like absolutely nothing is happening. Like I made a HUGE MISTAKE in starting off on this journey. These “dry spells” can go for months, sometimes years, and during those times I always question my faith. I doubt. I feel like I’m failing. I feel like I should quit. I feel like God doesn’t exist. I feel like A Course in Miracles actually doesn’t work, and that I should just go do something else.
But always there is something that keeps me going. Always. I’m continually amazed. Long ago I stopped looking for results. One day I simply decided: I am going to be dedicated to God and to my brothers no matter if I never see a result ever again.
That’s faith.
I used to think I would only be dedicated to God if He was giving me something in return. Kinda like: “I’ll do my part if you do your part.”
Around this time God went completely absent from my life. God was nowhere. He wasn’t doing His part. He “abandoned” me. I couldn’t hear His voice. He wasn’t listening. I’d given my life to Him, and He was nowhere. I prayed for an answer and got no response. I prayed to see signs of His Hand working in my life, and I got nothing.
And then I would say: screw you then. I’m not doing my part either (like a big adult baby).
But then always, I would laugh. Who cares if God exists or doesn’t exist?? This will be your finest moment. When you realize you simply want to give and love because it feels good.
You’re the light of the world no matter what you believe.
I’m at the point where I actually can’t do anything else except extend this light. I’ve tried to contain it and be depressed and I can’t do it. It’s not possible for me. These lessons have worked their magic and it’s impossible for me to be sad.
So I’m going to extend the Love and Joy I feel no matter if I never get a visible result ever again.
Why?
Because Love is what I am.
It’s a little like you can’t stop being a girl if you are a girl. Because if you are a girl, then you are a girl. It’s clearly visible. You can fight it all you want, you can lose your faith, you can question it … but if you are a girl, you are girl and when you finally recognize that all of your beliefs will never change that fact, you will simple accept it. You stop looking for proof. You stop looking for signs. You stop praying for miracles.
(I realize this is NOT the best example in the world – forgive me – because in reality you are Spirit – which is neither male nor female – I find that I have both male & female qualities in equal parts – but hopefully you see the point I am trying to make)
There is no change … is what I am attempting to say.
All that is required is acceptance. Do you see how there is no transformation in this? You suddenly just accept that you are what you are. You let all false beliefs go. You stop fighting and you stop doubting … and you accept yourself as God created you, perfect.
Light is what I am. At a certain point, your light just naturally extends itself. You cannot contain it anymore. It just flows. You can’t do anything about it. Suddenly you don’t have a choice in the matter and you must love. Not because you make a decision about it in your human brain, but because that love is simply not containable anymore. It flows without your awareness.
So when I tell you I love you, I don’t even think about it. It just flows through me. Love is what I am and so love is what I give. I can’t give something else to you because I don’t have anything else.
And that’s really a miracle.
It’s an amazing thing to be dedicated to God when you can’t see Him, when it seems like you made a huge mistake following this path.
I can’t explain it. Perhaps you already know what I am trying to express here. But there comes a point when your logical brain wants results (and is not getting them) and there is a loud voice that tells you to quit … but at the same time there is a rock solid faith that is unshakable.
Suddenly you couldn’t follow another path even if you wanted to. It’s as if your feet are set firmly on the path to God, and you don’t have a choice in the matter.
So for me, for a long time, I fought it. I kept trying to go another direction. But I couldn’t. It was like in a movie where you see a larger force operating, and you know the human character doesn’t have a chance. You as the viewer know the character would be better off just SURRENDERING.
And that’s what has happened to me. A gentle surrender. One day I realized that fighting my destiny was never going to work. I would lose in every situation because God will win always. But of course, I have free will, so all my battles were just that: battles. God will let me rail and complain and bitch as long as possible. He’ll let me stay in hell as long as I want.
But I won’t win.
And when you finally come to this point: it is total freedom!
You let go.
You surrender.
You feel a tremendous burden go off your shoulders.
You feel a new lightness.
It’s marvelous.
Then you realize God is everywhere, and He’s been present with you every day even when you thought He was absent. He reveals Himself in all his Majesty and Power and Grace.
and you will then laugh at yourself that you ever questioned His existence.
The only thing that can ever possibly go wrong is that I lose awareness of my Identity. And that is all.
So, I had a great day yesterday with visible results. I know I’ll go through another dry patch – through miles of scorched desert – when it looks like it’s NOT working again. But I’ll keep being the light of the world, because THIS PATH HAS CHOSEN ME.
I didn’t choose this path. It chose me.
Light is what I am.
God is what I am.
I can either resist it and stay in hell, or let go and be happy.
How simple.
Here are today’s workbook lessons:
1. God goes with me wherever I go.
2. God is my strength. Vision is His gift.
3. God is my Source. I cannot see apart from Him.
4. God is the light in which I see.
5. God is the Mind with which I think.
These review lessons are so amazing. I hope you are not just skimming through them. I hope you are reading them. Sitting up in bed upon waking, and reaching for the book and reading these lessons. They are the best way to start the day right.
Plus, what they say in the review is actually different than what it says in the actual lessons (although the content is the same), but the wording is different so these review lessons are actually BRAND NEW.
1. My holiness envelops everything I see.
2. My holiness blesses the world.
3. There is nothing my holiness cannot do.
4. My holiness is my salvation.
5. I am blessed as a Son of God.
Everything you need to know is contained in these lessons, literally. You might be waiting for a miracle so you are not afraid anymore, as if you think you have to go through all 365 lessons to “get it” and have fear lifted from you – but in fact, the answer is contained in lesson 39:
“My holiness is my salvation”: Since my holiness saves me from all guilt, recognizing my holiness is my salvation. It is also recognizing the salvation of the world. Once I have accepted my holiness, nothing can make me afraid.”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isn’t that amazing? Once you accept your holiness, nothing can make you afraid.
And you can accept your holiness TODAY.
Another review lesson says:
“What is there to be saved from except illusions? And what are illusions except false ideas about myself? My holiness undoes them all by asserting the truth about me.”
The other day a long-time Course in Miracles teacher was saying she can’t let go of a grievance. I couldn’t believe it. I was thinking: Good Lord, just let the grievance go for crying out loud. Why hold onto conflict? Who cares what someone else is doing? Do you want to be happy? Well then … STOP IT. I went through all these ideas about this “other person” until this morning when I did the review lessons and I read: “and what are illusions except false ideas about myself?”
Amazing.
There is no other person holding onto a grievance.
There is only me – either I’m recognizing my holiness in all situations and realizing that all illusions are false ideas about myself OR I’m trapped in the story thinking there are other people “not getting it.”
All this, from practicing the review lessons.
They take me beyond all appearances to the truth about myself.
Say this out loud to yourself:
I am blessed as a Son of God:
“Herein lies my claim to all good and only good. I am blessed as a Son of God. All good things are mine, because God intended them for me. I cannot suffer any loss or deprivation or pain because of Who I am. My Father supports me, protects me, and directs me in all things. His care for me is infinite, and is with me forever. I am eternally blessed as His Son.”
Now open A Course in Miracles and practice today’s lesson. Out loud and with conviction.
Out loud and with conviction is good advice.
And just a reminder: Make some time today to read Chapter 1. We are reading one chapter a week to finish the text in 31 weeks, and this week is Chapter 1.
I love you.
Know “an extraordinary woman whose simple actions have made a big difference in people’s lives?”
Tell all about her in 100 words or less, by clicking here:
http://www.nabiscoworld.com/100caloriepacks/#/100ExtraordinaryWomen/
I’m going to start going through one chapter a week, starting RIGHT NOW, and go through all 31 chapters of A Course in Miracles in 31 weeks.
So, if you would like to join along, that would be fantastic. All you have to do is open the book and read Chapter 1, and finish it sometime before next Monday morning (when we will start on Chapter 2).
During the week, I will point out certain sentences and paragraphs that inspire me
Of course, these sections will be different from the ones that stand out for you, so please feel free to post your observations in the comment section. That would be great.
All this week I have been getting private messages from people who say they love the comments that you all are writing. So post away. Feel free to leave your website address so people can find you.
Have fun with it. Chapter 1. THE MEANING OF MIRACLES.
By now you should be starting to uncover some new emotional responses. It can get a little uncomfortable.
That’s natural. You’re bringing everything that was buried and hidden into your awareness. Let yourself FEEL the discomfort. Acknowledge it. Recognize it.
And whatever you do … don’t push it back down again. Let it rise to the surface and have a little willingness to look at it, and let it be released from your mind.
It’s the 56th day of practicing the workbook lessons of A Course in Miracles.
If you are just starting out, make sure you do ONLY one lesson a day. Don’t try to catch up to us by speeding through the lessons. Do one lesson a day and it will take you 365 days to complete the workbook. You can scroll back to January and find the corresponding lesson you are on.
Any difficulty you have with this journey is your need for a result, which logically is always based in a future time, which means you are not present now.
The simplicity of this journey is astonishing.
In chapter 1, it states: “Lack implies that you would be better of in a state different than the one you are in.”
Isn’t that amazing? There is nothing to achieve. All that is needed is acceptance of where you are RIGHT NOW. Once acceptance is established, the Power of God will lift and transport you to wherever you need to go and this is the reason “you need do nothing.”
Simply stay in a state of CONSTANCY to your own dedication to the healing of God’s Son, which takes place … today. here. now.
There is a great section in Chapter 24, that I love: “Forget not that the healing of God’s Son is all the world is for. That is the only purpose the Holy Spirit sees in it, and thus the only one it has. Until you see the healing of the Son as all you wish to be accomplished by the world, by time, and all appearances, you will not know the Father nor yourself. For you will use the world for what is not its purpose, and you will not escape it’s laws of violence and death. Yet it is given you to be beyond its laws in all respects, in every way and every circumstance, in all temptation to perceive what is not there, and all belief God’s Son can suffer pain because he sees himself as he is not.”
Ha. So great. So you see? In this very day – today – you are given unlimited opportunities to heal the Son of God. It is the only purpose in the world. There is no other purpose. There is no where to go. You simply heal the Son of God – which is you and everyone you see and think of – by staying in a constant dedication and remembrance of the truth that THIS WORLD IS NOT YOUR HOME and YOU ARE WHAT LOVE IS.
You are the light of the world.
It is given to you to heal every appearance, every sickness, every idea of limitation in everyone you see and think of.
TODAY.
Now.
Can you see this?
A Course in Miracles is not a doing, it’s an UNDOING.
So you do not need to go looking for situations to heal. People, places and events will find you, because it’s all going on in your own mind. So you are not looking for “other people” who need help. You’re not a magician trying to heal the appearance of chaos and sickness. Rather, you are simply standing still in an absolute conviction that “the healing of God’s Son is all the world is for.”
This is accomplished through you.
You are letting all your false ideas about yourself and your purpose in the world slip quietly away, to uncover the brilliant light THAT IS YOU that remains untouched and changeless by anything you have done here in time & space.
You are innocent, whole and perfect untouched by sin and guilt.
All your “mistakes” are meaningless. They have not affected your eternal state which remains as pure and brilliant as it was in the beginning and will remain forever more.
Today’s review lessons to practice:
1. I am not the victim of the world I see.
2. I have invented the world I see.
3. There is another way of looking at the world.
4. I could see peace instead of this.
5. My mind is part of God’s. I am very holy.
Today practice:
1. My attack thoughts are attacking my invulerability
2. Above all else I want to see.
3. Above all else I want to see differently.
4. God is in everything I see.
5. God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.
Okay, I want to be part of this. I think they have already taped the entire show (and announced the winner) even though the show officially starts on Sunday March 2nd on ABC. I watched the clip and it seems like taping is already over. But I still love the idea.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU HAD THE POWER TO CHANGE SOMEONE’S LIFE FOREVER?
Contestants are given a bunch of cash (but I don’t know how much. $1000? $10,000? I have no idea) and they have 5 days to change someone’s life forever. And the one who gives the most wins.
I love this idea.
I have no money, but I still love this idea, and I still want to participate. I want you to get involved also.
Change someone’s life in 5 days.
And then let me know what happens.
MAKE DREAMS COME TRUE FOR TOTAL STRANGERS.
Last night I remembered a spectacular teaching in Lesson 153, which I’d like to post here:
“Salvation can be thought of as a game that happy children play.”
“It was designed by One who loves His children, and who would replace their fearful toys with joyous games, which teach them that the game of fear is gone. His game instructs in happiness because there is no loser. Everyone who plays must win, and in his winning is the gain to everyone ensured.
“You who have played that you are lost to hope, abandoned by your Father, left alone in terror in a fearful world made mad by sin & guilt; be happy now. The game is over. Now a quiet time has come, in which we put away the toys of guilt, and lock other quaint and childish thoughts of sin forever from the pure and holy minds of Heaven’s children and the Son of God.”
“We pause but for a moment more, to play our final, happy game upon this earth. And then we go to take our rightful place where truth abides and games are meaningless. So is the story ended. Let this day bring the last chapter closer to the world, that everyone may learn the tale he reads of terrifying destiny, defeat of all his hopes, his pitiful defense against a vengeance he cannot escape, is but his own deluded fantasy. God’s ministers have come to waken him from the dark dreams this story has evoked in his confused, bewildered memory of this distorted tale.
“God’s Son can smile at last, on learning that it is not true.”
I love it. Jesus says again and again we must become like little children. But remember: there is a world of difference between CHILDLIKE and CHILDISH.
Jesus says: time to put your toys away. And what he means is toys of guilt, sadness, anger, depression, doubt, procrastination, sickness and death. Time to lay childish games aside.
I love getting reminders like this. What am I waiting for? Heaven is here & now. There is nothing in the future. God doesn’t hold anything back. He’s not testing me. He’s not waiting to reveal something to me. It’s all here in this moment. Everything I want. Everything I’m asking for.
How could I possibly be in a rut, except that I’ve forgotten Who I am?
I love it when I get jolted out of the routine. For me, it happens by writing and by keeping a constant dedication “to see things differently.”
Even I get trapped by the mundane and repetition, and that’s why I need the DAILY PRACTICE of the mind-training of A Course in Miracles.
It reminds me of what I’ve forgotten.
It reminds me of the truth.
It brings me back into a space of joy & clarity.
So I stumble and fall into darkness. That’s normal. The question is: how long do I stay down? How long do I stay in “anticipation?” How long do I keep waiting for a sign or a miracle?
(meanwhile totally missing the miracles that are happening right in front of me?)
The light of Heaven is all around me while I am “bored.”
Ask yourself if you are following along in your daily life, going through the motions “waiting” for something to happen.
Or are you vibrantly alive?
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
Ask yourself the question. What are you waiting for? What is holding you back?
“Delay in time is tragic”
Today is all there is. Be alive. Count your blessings. Make a gratitude list. Help someone. Laugh. Do what you love.
And please practice today’s Lesson 55. It will remind you of some very important things:
21. I am determined to see things differently.
22. What I see is a form of vengeance.
23. I can escape from the world by giving up attack thoughts.
24. I do not perceive my own best interests.
25. I do not know what anything is for.
I love you for bearing with me and for standing with me and for supporting me every step of the journey. Thank you. Truly. I appreciate it more than words can ever express.
I love you.
Review Lessons:
16. I have no neutral thoughts
17. I see no neutral things
18. I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my seeing
19. I am not alone in experiencing the effects of my thoughts
20. I am determined to see.
It’s been a weird couple of days. I’m in a rut. I am tempted to “do something” to get myself out of the boredom, but nothing feels Spirit-inspired. These past few days, when I have an idea to do something, it feels like a struggle. It’s not flowing naturally. Just thinking about “making something happen” feels like pushing and shoving – like trying to put a square piece in a round hole.
I’m left thinking: what’s it for?
That’s when I DO NOTHING.
This space always scares me. I feel like I should do something. Make something happen.
But lately, I’m incapable of moving very fast. It’s just how it is. It doesn’t need to be fixed or examined.
I know that there are seasons and cycles and right now I’m in a winter season, and there’s not much I can do about it. You can’t make roses bloom through 3 feet of snow and freezing temperatures no matter how much you try. When it’s winter, it’s winter … and it’s not summer, spring or fall. Those are different seasons and cycles and they will arrive in due time.
There’s nothing to change. It is what it is.
Yesterday I was thinking about a sentence in the text of A Course in Miracles, Chapter 31: “Why would you seek to try another road, another person, or another place, when you have learned the way the lesson starts, but do not yet perceive what it is for?”
I caught myself thinking of all my past attempts to “make something happen.” I’ve done it a million times. Moving to a new location. Finding a new relationship. Shopping. Movies. Updating my resume. Changing jobs. Moving the furniture around in my apartment. Planning a trip.
Anything to get myself out of the rut. Anything to make me feel alive. But what I was thinking about yesterday is that all the “rearranging” is only fulfilling for a couple of weeks, and then I’m back to the same point of frustration and futility again. Do you know what I am talking about? You’re always back where you started. All roads in the world lead to the same place: they go nowhere.
When Spirit moves me, it’s always effortless and easy and full of grace. What I have noticed is that when Spirit moves me in a new direction, I never have a thought (or doubt or question) about it, I simply move. Events happen miraculously. Planning is easy. Doors open. I’m lifted and transported, and it’s like I’m not even part of the process. It’s like flying while sitting in the passenger seat, with God in the pilot seat. I just sit back and enjoy the scenery while God takes me the destination He needs me to go.
From Chapter 31, The Real Alternative:
Why would you seek to try another road, another person or another place, when you have learned the way the lesson starts, but do not yet perceive what it is for? Its purpose is the answer to the search that all must undertake who still believe there is another answer to be found. Learn now, without despair, there is no hope of answer in the world. But do not judge the lesson that is but begun with this. Seek not another signpost in the world that seems to point to still another road. No longer look for hope where there is none. Make fast your learning now, and understand you but waste time unless you go beyond what you have learned to what is yet to learn. For from this lowest point will learning lead to heights of happiness, in which you see the purpose of the lesson shining clear, and perfectly within your learning grasp.
Who would be willing to be turned away from all the roadways of the world, unless he understood their real futility? Is it not needful that he should begin with this, to seek another way instead? For while he sees a choice where there is none, what power of decision can he use? The great release of power must begin with learning where it really has a use. And what decision has power if it be applied in situations without choice?
The learning that the world can offer but one choice, no matter what its form may be, is the beginning of acceptance that there is a real alternative instead. To fight against this step is to defeat your purpose here. You did not come to learn to find a road the world does not contain. The search for different pathways in the world is but the search for different forms of truth. And this would keep the truth from being reached.
Think not that happiness is ever found by following a road away from it. This makes no sense, and cannot be the way. To you who seem to find this course to be too difficult to learn, let me repeat that to achieve a goal you must proceed in its direction, not away from it. And every road that leads the other way will not advance the purpose to be found. If this be difficult to understand, then is this course impossible to learn. But only then. For otherwise, it is a simple teaching in the obvious.
There is a choice that you have power to make when you have seen the real alternatives. Until that point is reached you have no choice, and you can but decide how you would choose the better to deceive yourself again. This course attempts to teach no more than that the power of decision cannot lie in choosing different forms of what is still the same illusion and the same mistake. All choices in the world depend on this; you choose between your brother and yourself, and you will gain as much as he will lose, and what you lose is what is given him. How utterly opposed to truth is this, when all the lesson’s purpose is to teach that what your brother loses you have lost, and what he gains is what is given you.
He has not left His Thoughts! But you forgot His Presence and remembered not His Love. No pathway in the world can lead to Him, nor any worldly goal be one with His. What road in all the world will lead within, when every road was made to separate the journey from the purpose it must have unless it be but futile wandering? All roads that lead away from what you are will lead you to confusion and despair. Yet has He never left His Thoughts to die, without their Source forever in themselves.
He has not left His Thoughts! He could no more depart from them than they could keep Him out. In unity with Him do they abide, and in Their Oneness Both are kept complete. There is no road that leads away from Him. A journey from yourself does not exist. How foolish and insane it is to think that there could be a road with such an aim! Where could it go? And how could you be made to travel on it, walking there without your own reality at one with you?
Forgive yourself your madness, and forget all senseless journeys and all goal-less aims. They have no meaning. You can not escape from what you are. For God is merciful, and did not let His Son abandon Him. For what He is be thankful, for in that is your escape from madness and from death. Nowhere but where He is can you be found. There is no path that does not lead to Him.
