THURSDAY June 2, 2016
His Light will lead me
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A COURSE IN MIRACLES
CH 13 "FROM PERCEPTION TO KNOWLEDGE"
VIII. THE DECISION FOR GUILTLESSNESS continued
 
83 Whenever you are in doubt what you should do, think of His Presence in you and tell yourself this and only this:
 
84 He leadeth me and knows the way, which I know not. 
    Yet He will never keep from me what He would have me learn. 
    And so I trust Him to communicate to me all that 
    He knows for me. 
 
85 Then let Him teach you quietly how to perceive your guiltlessness, which is already there.

DAILY LESSON
Son ship Video
L e s s o n 153
In my defenselessness my safety lies.
<AUDIO><VIDEO I><VIDEO II>
Voice and Music by CIMS SonShip Radio

*IAMBIC PENTAMETER*
WHAT IS IAMBIC PENTAMETER? 
 
  You who feel threatened by this changing world,  
   its twists of fortune and its bitter jests, 
   its brief relationships and all the gifts  
   it merely lends to take away again;   
   attend this lesson well. The world provides  
   no safety. It is rooted in attack,   
   and all its gifts of seeming safety are 
   illusory deceptions. It attacks 
   and then attacks again. No peace of mind 
   is possible where danger threatens thus.|  
 
   The world gives rise but to defensiveness. 
   For threat brings anger, anger makes attack 
   seem reasonable, honestly provoked, 
   and righteous in the name of self-defense. 
   Yet is defensiveness a double threat, 
   for it attests to weakness, and sets up 
   a system of defense which cannot work.  
  
   Now are the weak still further undermined, 
   for there is treachery without, and still 
   a greater treachery within. The mind 
   is now confused, and knows not where to turn 
   to find escape from its imaginings.| 
   It is as if a circle held it fast, 
   wherein another circle bound it, and 
   another in that one, until escape 
   no longer can be hoped for nor attained.  
  
   Attack, defense; defense, attack, become 
   the circles of the hours and the days 
   which bind the mind in heavy bands of steel 
   with iron overlaid, returning but 
   to start again. There seems to be no break 
   nor ending in the ever-tightening 
   grip of imprisonment upon the mind.| 
   Defenses are the costliest of all 
   the prices which the ego would exact. 
   In them lies madness in a form so grim 
   that hope of sanity but seems to be 
   an idle dream beyond the possible.  
  
   The sense of threat the world encourages 
   is so much deeper, and so far beyond 
   the frenzy and intensity of which 
   you can conceive that you have no idea 
   of all the devastation it has wrought.| 
   You are its slave. You know not what you do 
   in fear of it. You do not understand 
   how much you have been made to sacrifice, 
   who feel its iron grip upon your heart.  
  
   You do not realize what you have done 
   to sabotage the holy peace of God 
   by your defensiveness. For you behold 
   the Son of God as but a victim to 
   attack by fantasies, by dreams, and by 
   illusions he has made; yet helpless in 
   their presence, needful only of defense 
   by still more fantasies and dreams, by which 
   illusions of his safety comfort him.|  
  
   Defenselessness is strength. It testifies 
   to recognition of the Christ in you. 
   Perhaps you will recall the course maintains 
   that choice is always made between His strength 
   and your own weakness as apart from Him. 
   Defenselessness can never be attacked, 
   because it recognizes strength so great 
   attack is folly, or a silly game 
   a tired child might play when he becomes 
   too sleepy to remember what he wants.  
  
   Defensiveness is weakness. It proclaims 
   you have denied the Christ, and come to fear 
   His Father's anger. What can save you now 
   from your delusion of an angry god 
   whose fearful image you believe you see 
   at work in all the evils of the world? 
   What but illusions could defend you now, 
   when it is but illusions which you fight?  
  
   We will not play such childish games today. 
   For our true purpose is to save the world, 
   and we would not exchange for foolishness 
   the endless joy our function offers us. 
   We would not let our happiness slip by 
   because a senseless fragment of a dream 
   happened to cross our minds, and we mistook 
   the figures in it for the Son of God; 
   its tiny instant for eternity.
   We look past dreams today, and recognize 
   that we need no defense because we are 
   created unassailable, without 
   all thought or wish or dream in which attack 
   has any meaning. Now we cannot fear. 
   For we have left all fearful thoughts behind. 
   And in defenselessness we stand secure, 
   serenely certain of our safety now, 
   sure of salvation; sure we will fulfill 
   our chosen purpose as our ministry 
   extends its holy blessing through the world.
   Be still a moment, and in silence think 
   how holy is your purpose, how secure 
   you rest, untouchable within its light. 
   God's ministers have chosen that the truth 
   be with them. Who is holier than they? 
   Who could be surer that his happiness 
   is fully guaranteed? And who could be 
   more mightily protected? What defense 
   could possibly be needed by the ones 
   who are among the chosen ones of God 
   by His election and their own as well?
   It is the function of God's ministers 
   to help their brothers choose as they have done. 
   God has elected all, but few have come 
   to realize His Will is but their own. 
   And while you fail to teach what you have learned 
   salvation waits, and darkness hides the world 
   in grim imprisonment. Nor will you see 
   that light has come to you, and your escape 
   has been accomplished. For you will not see 
   the light until you offer it to all 
   your brothers. As they take it from your hands, 
   so will you recognize it as your own.
   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 
   of everyone ensured. The game of fear 
   is gladly laid aside when children come 
   to see the benefits salvation brings.|  
  
   You who have played that you were lost to hope, 
   abandoned by your Father, left alone 
   in terror in a fearful world made mad 
   by sin and guilt, be happy now. That game 
   is over. Now a quiet time has come 
   in which we put away the toys of guilt, 
   and lock our quaint and childish thoughts of sin 
   forever from the pure and holy minds 
   of Heaven's children and the Sons 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 tales he reads 
   of terrifying destiny, defeat 
   of all his hopes, his pitiful defense 
   against a vengeance he can not escape, 
   were 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.|  
  
   Today we practice in a form we will 
   maintain for quite a while. We will begin 
   each day by giving our attention to 
   the daily thought as long as possible. 
   Five minutes now becomes the least we give 
   to preparation for a day in which 
   salvation is the only goal we have. 
   Ten would be better; fifteen better still.  
  
   And as distraction ceases to arise 
   to turn us from our purpose, we will find 
   that half an hour is too short a time 
   to spend with God. Nor will we willingly 
   give less at night in gratitude and joy.| 
   Each hour adds to our increasing peace 
   as we remember to be faithful to 
   the Will we share with God. At times, perhaps 
   a minute, even less, will be the most 
   that we can offer as the hour strikes.  
  
   Sometimes we will forget. At other times 
   the business of the world will close on us, 
   and we will be unable to withdraw 
   a little while, and turn our thoughts to God.| 
   Yet when we can, we will observe our trust 
   as ministers of God in hourly 
   remembrance of our mission and His Love. 
   And we will quietly sit by and wait 
   on Him and listen to His Voice, and learn 
   what He would have us do the hour that 
   is yet to come, while thanking Him for all 
   the gifts He gave us in the one gone by.|  
  
   In time, with practice, you will never cease 
   to think of Him and hear His loving Voice 
   guiding your footsteps into quiet paths 
   where you will walk in true defenselessness, 
   for you will know that Heaven goes with you. 
   Nor would you keep your mind away from Him 
   a moment, even though your time is spent 
   in offering salvation to the world. 
   Think you He will not make this possible 
   for you who chose to carry out His plan 
   for the salvation of the world and yours?  
  
   Today our theme is our defenselessness. 
   We clothe ourselves in it as we prepare 
   to meet the day. We rise up strong in Christ, 
   and let our weakness disappear as we 
   remember that His strength abides in us. 
   We will remind ourselves that He remains 
   beside us through the day, and never leaves 
   our weakness unsupported by His strength. 
   We call upon His strength each time we feel 
   the threat of our defenses undermine 
   our certainty of purpose. We will pause 
   a moment as He tells us "I am here."  
  
   Our practicing will now begin to take 
   the earnestness of love to help you keep 
   your mind from wandering from its intent. 
   Be not afraid nor timid. There can be 
   no doubt that you will reach your final goal. 
   The ministers of God can never fail, 
   because the love and strength and peace that shine 
   from them to all their brothers come from Him. 
   These are His gifts to you. Defenselessness 
   is all you need to give Him in return. 
   You lay aside but what was never real, 
   to look on Christ and see His sinlessness.
 
     ~ The Original Handscript Notes
 
 
          
LESSON AUDIO RECORDINGS
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ACIM Edmonton - Sarah's Reflections 
ACIM Edmonton, CA
LESSON 153
In my defenselessness my safety lies.
Sarah's Commentary:

This is a particularly long Lesson and the teaching is very deep and certainly not the way we think now. We believe our safety lies in our defenses, as we protect ourselves against the threats of this world. Jesus starts by telling us the nature of this world we made is one where we feel threatened. We tend to deny this. I was just listening to the song, "It's a Wonderful World," which reflects what we mostly try to believe about the world, but Jesus describes it in a way that totally refutes anything beautiful about the world. When we get really honest about our lives in the world, we can see how it is characterized by changes, problems, twists of fate and fortune, bitter jests, brief relationships, and gifts that seem to come and then get taken away. And of course the body ages, gets sick and finally dies.
 
All of this is part of our separated state from God. With separation came a world made as a defense against God's Love, and in fact, an attack on God. We believe God will catch up with us for our sin and punish us with His wrath. God is Who we are ultimately defending against, but there is no need for defense, as there is no problem. The ego made it all up. Yet as long as we believe in the ego's myth that we have sinned against God and are guilty, we will run away from Him. We do our best to defend against all the trials of this world until our plans and strategies ultimately overcome us. Jesus affirms, "The world gives rise but to defensiveness." (W.153.2.1)
 
When we feel threat, we feel justified in defending against it, whether the threat is germs we believe can make us sick, markets that can crash, people who can hurt us, or any number of things we protect ourselves from. All these threats in our lives make us fearful and angry, and when we are angry, attack seems like a reasonable response. We thus feel justified in our anger and believe it will serve to protect us from harm. Our attacks seem righteous because after all, we reason, we are simply defending against what we believe others are going to do to us! Everyone in the world uses the same rationale for their attacks and defenses. They reason that they are simply responding to unjustified attacks, and thus, defense is necessary.
 
This all arises as a result of the choice made by the Son of God for the ego. The ego has convinced us our safety lies with it. It has woven a tale of sin, guilt and punishment for what the Son of God has seemingly done in destroying creation and running away from God. Now there is so much fear in the mind that the only escape is to make a world and a body and become totally preoccupied with problems rather than go back to the mind and recognize the fallacy of this story. But there is a way out. The solution is to recognize that everything the ego has told us, and what we have come to believe, is false. We can choose against it by being willing to look at the guilt in the mind projected onto the world and to choose again. The attacks that seemingly coming at us from the world are, in fact, our own projected thoughts of attack in our own minds. These thoughts originated with our belief we attacked God to win our separate, individual selves. When we recognize it all starts in our own minds, it is apparent there is a power in us to make a different choice. We can make a choice to heal our misperceptions about ourselves, the world, and God, and thus, we can experience a benign world.
 
When we choose not to look at the attack thoughts in our own minds, we perceive them in everyone else and see hostility and guilt all around us, while we maintain the "face of innocence." What we have chosen to do is achieve our own perceived innocence by choosing to see guilt outside our minds. Our hope is that God is watching and will punish the guilty ones and we will escape the punishment we fear; but we are being invited to question all of this. Jesus lays out how the ego set all of this up so we could become aware of the fact that a choice could be made to look within, take back responsibility for our guilt, and start the healing process. Until we are willing to recognize the source of all attack is in our own minds, we will feel justified in being angry and defending against attacks that seem to originate in the world. What all defenses do is make us feel weak and vulnerable. Once we are in this cycle of attack and defense, "There seems to be no break nor ending in the ever-tightening grip of the imprisonment upon the mind." (W.153.3.3) It is a cycle of attack and defense, where someone always has to lose for us to get what we want. Yet Jesus is showing us a way out by helping us see that the answer is to return to the mind, where the solution to our one and only problem of separation lies. He is showing us how this was all set up so we could see the choice we could make. It is right in front of us. The decision we could make is always for Heaven or hell, life or death, awakening or sleeping, forgiveness or grievances, or love or fear.
 
In this Lesson, Jesus brings to our awareness how our ". . . defensiveness is a double threat." (W.153.2.3) We may wonder how, by being defensive, we are threatened further. To us, the defenses we set up, both physical and psychological, seem like safety and protection against all kinds of threat. Jesus says the reason defensiveness is a double threat is because of two things: One, our defenses simply attest to our weaknesses, and two, they just don't work! If they did work, we would indeed feel safe. Instead, there is a feeling of weakness and lack of safety, regardless of what we do to try to protect ourselves. We feel attacked both by events seemingly outside ourselves and from our own inner sense of ourselves, ". . . for there is treachery without and still a greater treachery within." (W.153.2.5) When we are not aware that there is another choice, we just keep turning to the ego for protection.
 
Where is our escape? If we look to the world, it is attacking us; and if we look to our own defenses, they undermine us and affirm our weakness. "It is essential to realize that all defenses do what they would defend." (T.17.IV.7.1)(ACIM OE T.17.V.33) This is the vicious cycle of our lives, "Attack, defense; defense, attack," (W.153.3.2) where we feel trapped, vulnerable, threatened, and unsafe. Our peace of mind is thus sabotaged by our own defensiveness and is an extremely costly price we pay for maintaining this cycle. In fact, "Defenses are the costliest of all the prices which the ego would exact." (W.153.4.1) Basically, nothing going on in our lives is as difficult, challenging, problematic, or costly as what we have made real in our own minds, which is extremely devastating to our sense of safety and peace. The reason for this is that we keep seeing the problems outside our own minds and never go to the source for the answer. This keeps us spinning our wheels and trying to solve problems we are convinced are external, but never solving the only problem we have.
 
So while we may look calm and in control on the outside, Jesus asks us to consider the terror going on inside us. We have learned to mask, organize, control, and manage our lives to the best of our ability, but it can never work, no matter how capable we appear to the world. The assaults just keep coming, whether we feel the threat due to world issues such as war, greed, economic collapse, climate change, and food additives, or personal issues such as divorce, job loss, weather, crime, drugs, and death. The threats of this world keep us on high alert. Yet Jesus assures us that peace can be available in the midst of this grim picture. It is not helpful to see it through rose-colored glasses, but to look directly at the nature of this world.
 
We hold the belief that attack is coming at us from the world, but our real fear is that we have denied God and He will extract from us what we believe we stole from Him. Since He is all-powerful, He will eventually get us in the end and win the battle we perceive we are in. As long as we are the slaves of our defenses, being ruled and controlled by them, we see threat all around us and live in fear, but what are we really defending against? Jesus says the real threat to us is God's Love. We are afraid to know this love. We made this world, this body, and this identity, and we like what we have made. It may be hurtful, but it is familiar.
 
We fear we have thrown away our identity as the Christ Self and exchanged it for the idol of specialness, which is our perceived self. Now we protect that idol, which is who we think we are. We cannot and have not changed ourselves and are only ". . . a victim to attack by fantasies, by dreams, and by illusions," (W.153.5.5) none of which are real. Our defensiveness is just an illusion of safety. We have the illusion of threat and the illusion of safety, and it is all coming from our own minds.
 
Once again, the guilt we hold in the mind is the culprit. When we hold the belief that we are guilty, we conceive of God as angry and behind the attacks we are getting from the world. God is the author in our deceived minds of the lacks we experience in the world, the wars, the nasty neighbors, the infestation of lice, the tornadoes, the price of gas, the lack of work, and the sickness we experience. It matters not what the attacks are. We see God working through all these attacks and thus getting back at us for what we have done. How could our defenses ever protect us from that? "What can save you now from your delusion of an angry god, whose fearful image you believe you see at work in all the evils of the world?" (W.153.7.3) Can you see this belief working in your own life? Has the thought crossed your mind where you wonder why God is making you suffer? Perhaps you wonder why God has abandoned you. There are many thoughts such as this, where we make God responsible for our experiences.
 
"We look past dreams today, and recognize that we need no defense because we are created unassailable , without all thought or wish or dream in which attack has any meaning." (W.153.9.1) When we look from above the battleground, we can recognize the ". . . silly game a tired child might play, when he becomes too sleepy to remember what he wants." (W.153.6.4) No, we don't see it this way when we are on the battleground, where our problems take on a great seriousness. This is where it is very challenging to meet attack with forgiveness. Yet it is possible to forgive when we recognize we are not the dream figures, but the dreamer of this dream. If we are dreaming it, we can choose a gentler dream. Will all our difficulties disappear? No, but how we see them will shift. If in the face of attack, we can step back, step aside, and ask for help, we are making progress. The choice we make in each instance is whether we will respond with the Holy Spirit or with the ego. When we choose with the Holy Spirit we learn, "Defenselessness is strength," (W.153.6.1) for it rests on awareness of Christ's strength in us, a strength so great it could never be attacked.
 
Jesus asks, "What defense could possibly be needed by the ones who are among the chosen ones of God, by His election and their own as well?" (W.153.10.6) We have chosen to contribute to the healing of our own minds by choosing defenselessness, by choosing the strength of Christ in us, and by reaching out in joining with our brothers, instead of choosing to defend our own weakness. It puts us in a position where we can't be attacked because we choose not to defend, knowing the truth about who we are. Jesus is a model to us in this, showing us his invulnerability in the face of seeming attack. Like him, we can offer salvation to everyone by reaching out to the world with love. Defenselessness ". . . testifies to recognition of the Christ in you." (W.153.6.2) It is a strength so powerful defense is not necessary. We have many examples of this in people like Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Peace Pilgrim, the Dalai Lama, and many others.
 
"We are created unassailable," (W.153.1) and can only know it when we undertake our purpose as a minister of God. How this is illustrated for us is when we are an example of the choice we have made in our minds. Behavior reflects our choice. Our peace and happiness are fully guaranteed as we walk in trust. We can't be assailed when we rest untouchable within the light of our holy purpose. When we know the Self we are, we stop defending and, instead, we help our brothers to make the choice we have made. "And while you fail to teach what you have learned, salvation waits and darkness hold the world in grim imprisonment." (W.153.11.1) We learn to be defenseless with each moment when we are able to demonstrate it. When we meet attack with defenselessness, we are communicating to our brother that his attack has no effect, and thus he is innocent. In turn, we are learning our seeming attack on God had no effect.
 
Jesus urges us to give up the silly childish game we have been playing in the belief we have been abandoned by our Father, and ". . . left alone in terror in a fearful world." (W.153.13.1) He says it is time to be done with this silly childish game and realize there is a happy game we can play on this earth. By our practicing today, we could bring the last chapter of our happy game on earth closer to the end. We are now no longer playing the game of defensiveness against God, but choosing instead a happy game, where we bring the message of hope and defenselessness to our brothers. "We will not play such childish games today. For our true purpose is to save the world, and we would not exchange for foolishness the endless joy our function offers us." (W.PII. 153.8.1-2)
 
It is so easy to get defensive when we forget that every attack is a call for love. Instead, we take these attacks as if they were assaults on us, and we can get quite indignant in defending our character. When we perceive an attack as coming from a brother in pain, it takes great effort and intention to see it all as a call for love. To be invulnerable from attack, we must connect to our inner core of strength, which is our right mind where the Holy Spirit dwells. When we no longer believe these accusations are true about us, they will have no place to land in us. We know the truth and are strong in that truth. "Now a quiet time has come, in which we put away the toys of guilt, and lock our quaint and childish thoughts of sin forever from the pure and holy minds of Heaven's children and the Son of God." (W.153.13.3)
 
Henceforth, we will be following the practice instructions for quite a while, so we need to look at them very specifically and note these instructions. They will continue until Lesson 170 and will not be repeated again except for brief directions in the Lessons to follow. We will now be relying on our own intentions and willingness as to the length of time we give to our practice. "And as distraction ceases to arise to turn us from our purpose, we will find that half an hour is too short a time to spend with God." (W.153.15.5)
 
We watch our thoughts throughout the day for the temptation to defend ourselves. "We call upon His strength each time we feel the threat of our defenses undermine our certainty of purpose. We will pause a moment, as He tells us, 'I am here'." (W.153.19.5-6) It is up to us to make this choice for God's strength. We won't know the benefits to ourselves unless we make this choice. When we are triggered by a seeming attack, we need to remember to stop and call on His help.
 
Perhaps most important for us is where he says, "Your practicing will now begin to take the earnestness of love, to help you keep your mind from wandering from its intent. Be not afraid nor timid. There can be no doubt that you will reach your final goal. The ministers of God can never fail, because the love and strength and peace that shine from them to all their brothers come from Him. These are His gifts to you. Defenselessness is all you need to give Him in return. You lay aside but what was never real, to look on Christ and see His sinlessness." (W.153.20.1-7)
 
It is a time of heartfelt desire to know ourselves without the fear and timidity of uncertainty. We simply cannot fail to reach our goal.
 
Love and blessings, Sarah
VIII. The Decision for Guiltlessness  Continued 
 
79 Seek not to appraise the worth of God's Son, whom He created holy, for to do so is to evaluate his Father and judge against Him. And you will feel guilty for this imagined crime, which no one in this world or Heaven could possibly commit. God's Spirit teaches only that the "sin" of self-replacement on the throne of God is not a source of guilt. What cannot happen can have no effects to fear. Be quiet in your faith in Him Who loves you and would lead you out of insanity. Madness may be your choice, but not your reality. Never forget the love of God, Who has remembered you. For it is quite impossible that He could ever let His Son drop from His loving Mind wherein he was created and where his abode was fixed in perfect peace forever.
 
80 Say to the Holy Spirit only, "Decide for me," and it is done. For His decisions are reflections of what God knows about you, and in this light, error of any kind becomes impossible. Why would you struggle so frantically to anticipate all that you cannot know when all knowledge lies behind every decision which the Holy Spirit makes for you? Learn of His wisdom and His love and teach His answer to everyone who struggles in the dark. For you decide for them and for yourself.
 
81 How gracious is it to decide all things through Him Whose equal love is given equally to all alike! He leaves you no one outside yourself, alone without you. And so He gives you what is yours because your Father would have you share it with Him. In everything be led by Him and do not reconsider. Trust Him to answer quickly, surely, and with love for everyone who will be touched in any way by the decision. And everyone will be. Would you take unto yourself the sole responsibility for deciding what can bring only good to everyone? Would you know this?
 
82 You taught yourselves the most unnatural habit of not communicating with your Creator. Yet you remain in close communication with Him and with everything that is within Him, as it is within yourself. Unlearn isolation through His loving guidance and learn of all the happy communication that you have thrown away but could not lose.
 
83 Whenever you are in doubt what you should do, think of His Presence in you and tell yourself this and only this:
 
84 He leadeth me and knows the way, which I know not.
    Yet He will never keep from me what He would have me learn.
    And so I trust Him to communicate to me all that
    He knows for me.
 
85 Then let Him teach you quietly how to perceive your guiltlessness, which is already there.    

IX. The Way of Salvation   

86 When you accept a brother's guiltlessness, you will see the Atonement in him. For by proclaiming it in him, you make it yours, and you will see what you sought. You will not see the symbol of your brother's guiltlessness shining within him while you still believe it is not there. His guiltlessness is your Atonement. Grant it to him, and you will see the truth of what you have acknowledged. Yet truth is offered first to be received, even as God gave it first to His Son. The first in time means nothing, but the First in eternity is God the Father, Who is both First and One. Beyond the First, there is no other, for there is no order, no second or third and nothing but the First.
 
87 You who belong to the First Cause, created by Him like unto Himself and part of Him, are more than merely guiltless. The state of guiltlessness is only the condition in which what is not there has been removed from the disordered mind that thought it was. This state, and only this, must you attain with God beside you. For until you do, you will still think that you are separate from Him. You can feel His Presence next to you but cannot know that you are one with Him. This need not be taught. Learning applies only to the condition in which it happens of itself.
 
88 When you have let all that obscured the truth in your most holy mind be undone for you and stand in grace before your Father, He will give Himself to you as He has always done. Giving Himself is all He knows, and so it is all knowledge. For what He knows not cannot be and therefore cannot be given. Ask not to be forgiven, for this has already been accomplished. Ask, rather, to learn how to forgive and restore what always was to your unforgiving mind. Atonement becomes real and visible to them that use it. On earth this is your only function, and you must learn that it is all you want to learn.
 
89 You will feel guilty till you learn this. For in the end, whatever form it takes, your guilt arises from your failure to fulfill your function in God's Mind with all of yours. Can you escape this guilt by failing to fulfill your function here? You need not understand creation to do what must be done before that knowledge would be meaningful to you. God breaks no barriers; neither did He make them. When you release them, they are gone. God will not fail nor ever has in anything.
 
90 Decide that God is right and you are wrong about yourself. He created you out of Himself but still within Him. He knows what you are. Remember that there is no second to Him. There cannot, therefore, be anyone without His Holiness nor anyone unworthy of His perfect Love. Fail not in your function of loving in a loveless place made out of darkness and deceit, for thus are darkness and deceit undone. Fail not yourself, but instead offer to God and you His blameless Son. For this small gift of appreciation for His Love, God will Himself exchange your gift for His.
 
91 Before you make any decisions for yourself, remember that you have decided against your function in Heaven and consider carefully whether you want to make decisions here. Your function here is only to decide against deciding what you want in recognition that you do not know. How, then, can you decide what you should do? Leave all decisions to the One Who speaks for God and for your function as He knows it. So will He teach you to remove the awful burden you have laid upon yourself by loving not the Son of God and trying to teach him guilt instead of love. Give up this frantic and insane attempt, which cheats you of the joy of living with your God and Father, and awaking gladly to His love and holiness, which join together as the truth in you, making you one with Him.
 
92 When you have learned how to decide with God, all decisions become as easy and as right as breathing. There is no effort, and you will be led as gently as if you were being carried along a quiet path in summer. Only your own volition seems to make deciding hard. The Holy Spirit will not delay at all in answering your every question what to do. He knows. And He will tell you and then do it for you. You who are tired might consider whether this is not more restful than sleep. For you can bring your guilt into sleeping but not into this.

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