We are now looking at the question "What is the World?" (W.PII.Q3) It is so important for us to understand this because our current perceptions are based on the belief that the world is real and is the cause of our difficulties, making us its effect and thus at its mercy, but the world is illusory. Its origin is in the ego's thought system of separation, which contains the belief in sin, guilt and fear. Sin, guilt and fear projected out from the wrong mind becomes a world of time and space. Sin reflects the belief that we have done something wrong in the past. Now we have guilt in the present and fear retribution in the future, believing that we must atone for our sins. This is important for us to understand. More important, Jesus tells us the world can serve a different purpose than the one we gave it. We can see it as a classroom for undoing our false perceptions. Now everything in the world has an important purpose for undoing our misperceptions instead of reinforcing our wrong minded beliefs about ourselves.
 
"The world is false perception. It is born of error and it has not left its source." (W.PII.Q3.1.1-2) Jesus is teaching us that ideas have not left their source in the mind. So the source of this world is the false idea we hold in our minds that we have left our home in Heaven and are now separate from God, wandering lost and alone in an illusory world of time and space. That is a mistaken thought because we cannot leave the mind of God since ideas leave not their source. As an idea in the mind of God, we cannot leave our source except in dreams. Believing we have left our Source, we have become lost in our dream, forgetting that we are the dreamer. Now everything that arises in our minds is no longer true. Thus, the world projected from our belief in a separated state has no foundation that is real. It is nothing but a projection of the thought system of separation. In reality, the separation never happened. We are still at home in God, only dreaming there is a world where we see ourselves and others as dream figures, playing out make-believe parts. The source of this dream is our own mind, and thus it is an illusion that will not last past the thought that gave rise to it. It reflects our belief in sin and guilt and is healed through the process of withdrawing belief in what was never real. "When the thought of separation has been changed to one of true forgiveness, will the world be seen in quite another light; and one which leads to truth, where all the world must disappear and all its errors vanish." (W.PII.Q3.1.4)
 
It is not unlike a nighttime dream, where we wake up and realize nothing that seemed to happen in the dream was true. Everything in the dream came from our own minds. When we wake up and are now outside of the nighttime dream, we look at it from another perspective and see we are still as we were before we fell into this dream state. This is a good analogy for how we can look at the dream of this separated world, where we think we are bodies with unique characteristics as individuals, all different and separate from each other and separate from God. When we completely step out of this dream we take so very seriously, the world will vanish. This is then the happy dream of the awakened mind. In the state of the happy dream, we are still in the world, but experience it from outside of the dream. We can step outside of it, as we increasingly withdraw meaning from it, to the extent we see it is an illusion. That is why, as part of our healing, we are called more and more to be the witness of the process of our lives. As a witness, we can go through experiences that are painful, disturbing, distressing, and elicit all kinds of feelings while still watching the experience from above the battle ground. We become the witnesses to our experiences, without judging them or ourselves. We simply watch it. Ultimately the world will vanish for us when we completely awaken from this dream and God takes the last step.

The content of this world is fear, no matter how pretty the illusion can seem to us at times. The ground beneath our feet seems solid, but there is nothing solid about the world. It is a place of decay and destruction, where death prevails and all things ultimately rot and disappear. It is a world where we all believe we need protection through the defenses we erect. It is a world of attack. "The world was made as an attack on God. It symbolizes fear. And what is fear except love's absence." (W.PII.Q3.2.1-3) It is not real. Jesus says, "There is no life outside of Heaven." (T.23.II.19.1) (ACIM OE T.23.III.37) If we accept this, there must be no life in this world! "Life not in Heaven is impossible, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere. Outside of Heaven, only the conflict of illusion stand; senseless, impossible and beyond all reason, and yet perceived as an eternal barrier to Heaven." (T.23.II.19.6-7)(ACIM OE T.23.III.37)

We take the forms in the world as reality and do not recognize the content of guilt and hate they contain. If we did, would we still want them? Jesus asks us, " Can you paint rosy lips upon a skeleton, dress it in loveliness, pet it and pamper it, and make it live?" (T.23.II.18.8)(ACIM OE T.23.III.36) This is what we apparently do, being fooled by the appearance and losing sight of the content of hate. We try to make believe it is a beautiful world with lovely sentiments in songs like "It's a Wonderful World." Instead we are being told it is a world born of error. The cause of the world is the error in the mind. It is therefore not a creation of God and there is no way of reconciling our false perception based on our guilt with the glory we want to see in the world. The world will simply remain no longer than the thought that gave it birth. When that thought of separation is no longer cherished, the world will be no more. It must then vanish. Healing the guilt in the mind that gave the world birth brings about its end.
 
The world was born in the choice made by the Son of God for the ego rather than the Holy Spirit. When this choice was made, the memory of God, as reflected by the Holy Spirit, was buried in our minds. Now we feel separate from our Source, and the world that arose from this choice has all the attributes of the thought system of the ego, which is all about self-interest. This means we want our separate, individual self, and fear God will punish us for this. So we continue to hide out in the world, fearing His punishment, but God is only love. Yet we identify with the fear because it keeps His Love out. In fact, we fear love, because we fear the annihilation of our separate self.

Now instead of the Oneness of Heaven, symbolized in the Course by Knowledge where there is nothing to perceive, we have a world of duality instead where "The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead." (W.PII.Q3.3.1) These mechanisms are our senses, which report the world as real. God did not create our bodies nor our bodily senses. "But eyes deceive, and ears hear falsely. Now mistakes become quite possible, for certainty has gone." (W.PII.Q3.2. 6-7) The purpose is to deceive us by witnessing to something not real. It seems real to us because the eyes and ears bring back information to the brain that convinces us what we see is out there rather than a projection or hallucination of our own minds. It seems so very convincing. It seems very solid. "They see in its illusions but a solid base where truth exists, upheld apart from lies." (W.PII.Q3.3.4) The truth now seems like a lie and the illusion feels to us to be real and solid.
 
Our choice for our mistaken thought system resulted in guilt because of our belief that we have left our Source and made a world of differences. Now we can see our guilt projected onto others and seen outside of our own minds. Very convenient! It keeps us believing in our own innocence at the expense of others. It keeps us thinking we are victims of the world. It keeps us invested in our bodies and our individuality. Thus our mistakes are now elevated to reality and God's love is seen as the illusion.

The Lesson today is all about our responsibility to set ourselves and the world free through forgiveness. It takes faith to accept that through forgiveness we can change the world. In fact, that is the only change possible. That is why Jesus tells us, "This is the time of hope for countless millions." (W.241.1.6) The impact of choosing to forgive our false perceptions is beyond our ability to perceive. It only makes sense from the perspective that there is only One Mind and we are One.
 
When Jesus says, "For I will be forgiven by you today," (W.241.1.8) my first reaction is to wonder what we are to forgive him for? In effect, with each brother we forgive, Jesus, as part of the one mind, is also being forgiven, as we all are. Every act of forgiveness with anyone brings forgiveness to all. Our function is to overcome the world as Jesus did, not to try to change it. As David Hawkins says, the world is a place of maximum karmic opportunity where we can go all the way to enlightenment. The opportunity is maximum in the world for our awakening, which mean in every event and every circumstance in our lives, no matter how challenging it seems, there is maximum potential for healing. And in the holy instant, when we enter the quiet space within the mind where truth abides, there is no time, there are no demands, there is no body, and there is no world.
 
The Lesson today is of hope and of release from this belief in victimhood and in karma. We can wake up from this dream now. There is no need to delay as it only causes more suffering. This is a day where we can choose to bring release to this darkened world so sorrows can indeed pass away and pain is gone. Our healing can thus make a tremendous difference in the world. It is up to us to accept the gift of healing and be an example of healing. This is how we come back to God. "We have forgiven one another now, and so we come at last to You again." (W.241.2.1) That is our way back home. And yes, we need not wait. Everything changes when our entire purpose is focused on healing through forgiveness. We choose Heaven or hell in every moment and in every decision. The way out is by forgiving, which is a choice for joy as we release our grievances. It is a decision for peace instead of war. It offers us a profound leap forward.
 
Accept the gift of healing today. This is the gift we accept for the world. This is the hope for us all. Let's focus on this deep desire for reconciliation today. Who are you having a struggle with? Who do you have grievances with today? Remind yourself, "This holy instant is salvation come," (W.241) because I have forgiven you (name). We remind ourselves today that we hold the desire for peace as more important than any conflict. Each time we choose forgiveness, we bring more illumination to this tired world. We recognize the love we are when we leave the hell made by our belief in the ego story.