¹Today let us review these ideas: 

 

[31] I am not the victim of the world I see.

 

²How can I be the victim of a world that can be completely undone if I so choose? My chains are loosened. I can drop them off merely by desiring to do so. The prison door is open. I can leave it simply by walking out. Nothing holds me in this world. Only my wish to stay keeps me a prisoner. I would give up my insane wishes and walk into the sunlight at last. 

 

[32] I have invented the world I see.

 

³I made up the prison in which I see myself. All I need do is recognize this, and I am free. I have deluded myself into believing it is possible to imprison the Son of God. I was bitterly mistaken in this belief, which I no longer want. The Son of God must be forever free. He is as God created him, and not what I would make of him. He is where God would have him be, and not where I thought to hold him prisoner. 

 

[33] There is another way of looking at the world.

 

⁴Since the purpose of the world is not the one I ascribed to it, there must be another way of looking at it. I see everything upside down, and my thoughts are the opposite of truth. I see the world as a prison for God's Son. It must be, then, that the world is really a place where he can be set free. I would look upon the world as it is, and see it as a place where the Son of God finds his freedom. 

 

[34] I could see peace instead of this.

 

⁵When I see the world as a place of freedom, I will realize that it reflects the laws of God instead of the rules which I made up for it to obey. I will understand that peace, not war, abides in it. And I will perceive that peace also abides in the hearts of all who share this place with me. 

 

[35] My mind is part of God's. I am very holy.

 

⁶As I share the peace of the world with my brothers, I begin to understand that this peace comes from deep within myself. The world I look upon has taken on the light of my forgiveness and shines forgiveness back at me. In this light, I begin to see what my illusions about myself had kept hidden. I begin to understand the holiness of all living things including myself, and their oneness with me.  

 

¹Beginning with today, we will have a series of review periods. Each of them will cover five of the ideas already presented, starting with the first and ending with the fiftieth. There will be a few short comments after each of the ideas which you should consider in your review. In the practice periods, the exercises should be done as follows: 

These review lessons really help us look at what we are experiencing in our day and which thought system we are choosing-that of the ego or that of the Holy Spirit. Everything that we see in the world is coming from our minds. Our experience at this moment tells us who we are listening to, the ego or the Holy Spirit. What are we allowing in? We really need to get that there is nothing outside of our minds. The themes that run through these review lessons are mostly about the peace that abides deep within us and the freedom we have to leave our self-imposed prison. In the introduction to the reviews, Jesus tells us that they are important in helping us to see these lessons as a unified, cohesive thought system.  

We see a lot in this review about the prison that we find ourselves in even though it is of our own imagining. How can anything imprison who we really are as the Son of God? We are only in a prison of our own thoughts. The truth is that we are free right now. The door is open and we can "leave simply by walking out" (1.6) But as long as we don't believe that and hold onto our "insane wishes" (9.1) we will stay in the prison. The prison is one we have made up ourselves and yet the lesson reminds us that "nothing holds me in this world" (1.7) Yet in spite of this fact, we feel trapped! We have resentment about our perceived incarceration because we see others as responsible for our condition, yet Jesus says that the prison door is open and we can walk into the sunlight any time we choose.

I notice how much I feel the victim of the demands of my day at times yet I wonder who but I set it all up? It is an ironic image. "Should I wait in chains which have been severed for release, when God is offering me freedom now?" (lesson 279) And in Chapter 20.III.9 "Prisoners bound with heavy chains for years, starved and emaciated, weak and exhausted, and with eyes so long cast down in darkness they remember not the light, do not leap up in joy the instant they are made free. It takes a while for them to understand what freedom is. You groped but feebly in the dust and found your brother's hand, uncertain whether to let it go or to take hold on life so long forgotten. Strengthen your hold and raise your eyes unto your strong companion, in whom the meaning of your freedom lies. He seemed to be crucified beside you. And yet his holiness remained untouched and perfect, and with him beside you, you shall this day enter with him to Paradise and know the peace of God." This is what heaven is. It is union. It is joining with your brother. It is recognizing that our interests are exactly the same. And when we do, the separation is healed. It heals the imprisonment we experience in our aloneness and sense of separateness from each other and from God.

So when I am experiencing difficulty with someone I am identifying him/her as the problem and the cause of my lack of peace. But I can choose to change my mind. I can choose to see that it is my guilt I am projecting on my brother. I can choose to see his innocence. I can offer my brother peace and forgiveness instead of judgment if I am willing to take responsibility for my own thoughts as the cause of everything I see. That is the only way I will know my own innocence. As I release you to the Holy Spirit in peace, I release myself as well. The question we need to ask ourselves is do we really want to. The ego screams "NO". He must pay. My anger is justified. Look at what he has done! But what happens then is that we only put ourselves in the prison with him. It may not be an easy choice to take his hand instead of crucifying him when our anger seems so justified, but it is the only choice we must make if we want peace. And the choice of which teacher we follow, the ego, or the Holy Spirit is truly the only freedom we have in the world.

The world only has one purpose. It is indeed "really a place where we can be set free" (3.5) As Eckhart Tolle asks in his book "A New Earth" "can they defy the gravitational pull of materialism and materiality and rise above identification with form that keeps the ego in place and condemns them to imprisonment within their own personality?" This is the transformation that takes us out of our prison of a world of form and takes us into the sunlight where everything shines with God's meaning. "My mind is part of God's. I am very holy". Yes, we can procrastinate and we do resist, but the way out will eventually be chosen by us all. That is why we came. We came to find our liberation. That is what the new earth is all about.

We have invented the world we see as a result of what is in our minds. If we are not happy, not at peace, we are the only ones that can change it. Do I want to know my own holiness? Then I have to see it in you. But the ego says "Look at yourself. You are a victim! You have been hurt! Look what this person has done to you!!" But we can choose not to listen. We can choose to see an opportunity for healing in anything that shows up. Otherwise we get into a cycle of attack and retaliation and instead of releasing our hidden guilt we enhance it and stay in the prison. We chain ourselves to those we hate. Are you at peace today? If not, you are listening to the ego as your guide. And this is truly a moment by moment decision as to whether we choose the prison or our release. Whenever you are not at peace today, look at your thoughts and admit that you are choosing to hold grievances and attack thoughts. Remember that you do have a choice and can let them go. Is it easy to do? Not necessarily. The ego is tenacious. But we have a bigger power than the ego. The ego is nothing when we withdraw our belief from it. And when we do, we see the laws of God instead of our own rules that we made up for how the world is supposed to treat us and the demands we make of everyone.

Despite appearances of war and conflict, peace always shines behind every attack. It abides in all hearts. Help me to see this peace behind every attack. Help me not to focus on what my eyes see but to look beyond the form to the Reality that shines in everyone. Because yes, the forms will still be clashing; there will still be war; there is still conflict-yet with forgiveness we see witnesses to that light that is unexpressed behind the clashing forms. And that will affirm for us that with vision we can see the holiness and innocence that is not seen with the body's eyes.

It is only our forgiveness that reveals this holiness. When the blocks are gone and  peace, forgiveness and love shine through us, we see a world of peace, forgiveness and love shining back at us. Why would we not want that? What do grievances offer that we would want more than that? Until we choose the means to a different world-the real world, we won't be aware of this light that is in us. It is in shining the peace that is in me,  I begin to understand that it truly is coming from deep within me and reflected back to me in gratitude. So many illusions that I hold in the form of my self-concepts, my beliefs, my rules, my expectation, my anger, depression, worries and concerns, that I have kept hidden from my awareness, can be seen clearly when willingness, honesty and courage is brought to bear. And I can then look at my ego thoughts without fear or recrimination in the understanding that this is not me. I truly am holy, divine, pure and innocent. That is the only truth.

So today I ask myself, how can I be the victim of a world that can be completely undone if it is something that I choose to do. If it truly is a world I made, then the world is not the problem, only the fact that I am not willing to consider that I made it is the problem. Am I willing to admit that I have been wrong about everything, thinking that I am a victim of everything and everyone including of my own body? We made up everything that we think impinges on us. Now we need to have the humility to say we have been wrong. Our stubborn insistence that we are right is the problem. The way out is to admit we are wrong and to release our grievances by joining with Jesus in letting him shine away the darkness that we are holding in our minds. Unloving thoughts remain only by our decision not to look at them, in which case they are projected out.

 

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