We are thus in search of another country; but, we must admit, between the one we leave behind and the one we have not yet reached, there is a rather uncomfortable no-man's-land. It is a period of trial, whose length depends upon our own determination; but, as we know, from time immemorial, from the Eastern, Egyptian, or Orphic initiations to the quest for the Holy Grail, the story of man's ascent has always been attended by trials. 

In the past they were mainly romantic. What was so earthshaking, after all, about getting oneself sealed in a sarcophagus while the fifes were playing, or celebrating one's own funeral rites around a pyre? Today the sarcophagi have become public, and some human lives are a kind of burial. It is therefore worthwhile to make some effort to get out. When we take a good look around, we see we haven't much to lose by making that effort.
 
The main difficulty of this transition is the inner void. After living in a condition of mental effervescence, we suddenly feel like a convalescent, rather lost, with strange echoes in our head, as if this world were horribly noisy and tiring. We become extremely sensitive, with an impression of bumping into everything, into gray or aggressive people, heavy objects, brutal events; the world appears enormously absurd.

What a mistake to dream of God far off in the skies when the spirit of the Universal Father lives within your own mind!

Conflict will always exist as long as the idea is more important than the fact.

Truth can be discovered by anyone, without the help of any authority and, as life is ever present, in an instant

Rejoice

Rejoice in the power of forgiveness to heal your sight completely.  

Be confident that on this day there is a new beginning.  Without the darkness of the past upon your eyes, you cannot fail to see today.  

And what you see will be so welcome that you will gladly extend today forever.

       

Say, then: The light has come.  I have forgiven the world.

Circle of Light

So should it be with the dark clouds of guilt, no more

impenetrable and no more substantial. 

You will not bruise yourself against them in traveling through. 

Let your Guide teach you their unsubstantial nature as He leads you past

them, for beneath them is a world of light whereon they

cast no shadows. 

Their shadows lie upon the world beyond them, still further from the light.

 Yet from them to the light their shadows cannot fall

Miracles

Miracles fall like drops of healing rain from Heaven on a dry and dusty world, where starved and thirsty creatures come to die. 

Now they have water. 

Now the world is green. 

And everywhere the signs of life spring up, to show that what is born can never

die, for what has life has immortality.

Brother, take not one step in the descent to hell. 

For having taken one, you will not recognize the rest for what they are. 

And they will follow. 

Attack in any form has placed your foot upon the twisted stairway that leads from Heaven. 

Yet any instant it is possible to have all this undone. 

How can you know whether you chose the stairs to Heaven or the way to hell? 

Quite easily. How do you feel? Is peace in your awareness?


Are you certain which way you go? And are you sure the goal of Heaven can be
reached? 

If not, you walk alone. 

Ask, then, your Friend to join with you, and give you certainty of where you go.

Looking Within

Real vision is not only unlimited by space and distance, but it does not depend on the body's eyes at all. 

The mind is its only source. 

To aid in helping you to become more accustomed to this idea as well, devote several practice periods to applying today's idea with your eyes closed, using whatever subjects come to mind, and looking within rather than without.

Today's idea applies equally to both.

Dreams

Forgiveness sweeps all other dreams away, and though it is itself a dream, it breeds no others. 

All illusions save this one must multiply a thousandfold.
 

 But this is where illusions end. 

Forgiveness is the end of dreams, because it is a dream of waking. 

It is not itself the truth. 

Yet does it point to where the truth must be, and gives direction with the certainty of God Himself. 

It is a dream in which the Son of God awakens to his Self and to his Father, knowing They are One..

In God's Hands

Now are we saved indeed. 

For in God's Hands we rest untroubled, sure that only good can come to us. 

If we forget, we will be gently reassured. 

If we accept an unforgiving thought, it will be soon replaced by love's reflection.

Hearts

The quiet of today will bless our hearts, and through them peace will come to everyone. 

Christ is our eyes today. 

And through His sight we offer healing to the world through Him, the holy Son whom God created whole; the holy Son whom God created One.

Glorious Father

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 mind, and urge you to follow my example as you look at yourself and at your brother, and see in both the glorious creations of a glorious Father.

Created

You have not only been fully created, but have also been created perfect. 

There is no emptiness in you. 

Because of your likeness to your Creator you are creative. 

No child of God can lose this ability because it is inherent in what he is, but he can use it inappropriately by projecting. 

The inappropriate use of extension, or projection, occurs
when you believe that some emptiness or lack exists in you, and that you can fill it with your own ideas instead of truth.

deception

Deceive yourself no longer that you are helpless in the face of what is done to you. 

Acknowledge but that you have been mistaken, and all effects of

your mistakes will disappear.

It is impossible the Son of God be merely driven by events outside of him.

It is impossible that happenings that come to him were not his choice.

The alternative

A Course in Miracles is a complete alternative. 

It has nothing to do with this world I made. 

This Cousrse will not help in Time and Space as it is not an alternative to my dream. 

It does not know my dream. It presents a total alternative not in any connection with my role as I define it.

I am not doing a Course in Miracles.

Creative Power

In the holy state the will is free, so that its creative power is unlimited and choice is meaningless. 

'

Freedom to choose is the same power as freedom to create, but its application is different.
 

 Choosing depends on a split mind. The Holy Spirit is one way of choosing.
 

 God did not leave his children comfortless, even though they chose to leave
him. 

The voice they put in their minds was not the voice for his will, for
which the Holy Spirit speaks.

What do you want?

What do you want? 

Light or darkness, knowledge or ignorance are yours, but not both. 

Opposites must be brought together, not kept apart. 


For their separation is only in your mind, and they are reconciled by union, as you are. 

In union, everything that is not real must disappear, for truth is union.

The Maker

 The Maker of the world of gentleness has perfect power to offset the world of violence and hate that seems to stand between you and His gentleness.  

It is not there in His forgiving eyes.  

And therefore it need not be there in yours.  

Sin is the fixed belief perception cannot change.  

What has been damned is damned and damned forever, being forever unforgivable.  

If, then, it is forgiven, sin's perception must have been wrong.  And thus is change made possible. 

Miracle-minded

 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 gladly.  

He recognizes that every collapse of time brings everyone closer to the ultimate release from time, in which the Son and the Father are one.  

Clouds

From where you stand, you can see no reason to believe there is a brilliant light hidden by the clouds.  

The clouds seem to be the only reality.  

They seem to be all there is to see.  

Therefore, you do not attempt to go through them and past them, which is the only way in which you would be really convinced of their lack of substance.  

We will make this attempt today.
      

  After you have thought about the importance of what you are trying to do for yourself and the world, try to settle down in perfect stillness, remembering only how much you want to reach the light in you today, - now!