ARCIM

Daily Lesson 23 ~
January 23

I can release myself from the world of illusions by giving up my fearful thoughts.

The idea for today contains the only way out of fear and separation and into Wholeness and Love that will ever succeed. Nothing else will work; everything else is meaningless. Only this way cannot fail.

Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you perceive. It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.

If the cause of the world you look upon – a world that appears to be outside of you and constantly confronting you with conflict – is thoughts from the wounded part of your mind (thoughts that in any form do not bring peace), then you must learn that it is these thoughts that you do not want.

There is no point in lamenting the world. There is no point in trying to change the world. It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world. Here you are changing the cause. The effects will change automatically.

A world that can be looked upon externally is a symbol of the separation in the split mind, and when considered honestly must therefore be a place of separation, with every separate thing in it a symbol of this internal separation. Each of your perceptions of “external reality” is in reality a pictorial representation of your own thoughts. One can well ask if such “image projecting” can be called perceiving, as if what is thought to be outside of one is really there in the way it is imagined. Is not fantasy a better word for such a process, and hallucination a more appropriate term for the result? While the world you look upon has thus been woven together from bits and pieces of images you have made, you may not as yet have perceived yourself as the image-maker.

You cannot be “saved” from the world, but you can release yourself from its cause. This is what awakening means, for where is the world you look upon when its cause is gone? True vision already holds a replacement for everything you think you perceive now. Loveliness can light your thoughts, images and perceptions, and so transform them that you will love them even though they were originally made of fear and judgment. For you will be bringing these images forth with the Help of One who is wholly Love.

The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in the world you look upon, because its cause can be changed. This change requires, first, that the cause be identified, and second, that it then be let go, so that, third, it can be replaced. The first two steps in this process require your cooperation. The final one does not. In reality the images of the world you look upon have already been replaced by Truth and Meaning. By taking the first two steps, you will see that this is so.

Five practice periods are required in applying today’s idea. As you look about you, repeat the idea slowly to yourself, and then close your eyes and devote about a minute to searching your mind for as many fearful thoughts – i.e., any thoughts that do not bring peace – as occur to you. As each one crosses your mind, say:

“I can release myself from the world of illusions by giving up my fearful thoughts about _____.”

Hold each fearful thought in mind as you say this, and then dismiss that thought and go on to the next.

In the practice periods, be sure to include both your fearful thoughts of being confronted with conflict (or “attacked”), and of reacting to the world you look upon with anything but peace (or “attacking”). The effects of these two forms of fearful thoughts are exactly the same, because these thoughts are exactly the same. You may not yet recognize this, and you are asked at this time only to treat them as the same in today’s practice periods. We are still at the stage of identifying the cause of the world you look upon. When you do realize that thoughts of conflict, of attack and of being attacked, are all fearful and therefore not different, you will be ready to let the cause go.

As usual, today’s idea should be used throughout the day as the need arises.

 

Corresponding Text Section

 

Principle of Miracles 23

Miracles depend on the affirmation of the spiritual eye, which is always full of Light. This Fullness inspires Joy unless there is fear of dark or Light.

Commentary

You fear dark if and when you believe it may conceal something that can harm you, and determine that it is better to live with that fear than have it confirmed.

The Light reveals that there is nothing inside or outside of you that can harm who you truly are in any way.

You fear Light if and when you believe It will uncover a lack of Love in yourself that you may have become convinced indicates a permanent flaw in yourself, which subsequently you may have become deeply ashamed of.

The miracle dissolves all lacks of Love because the spiritual eye cannot see lack at all, being filled with the Fullness of Light.

Failure to affirm the spiritual eye (so that it can affirm miracles) as a result of either the fear of dark or Light ultimately stems from the fallacy that darkness can hide things, a fallacy based on the simplistic mistaken belief that what the physical eyes cannot look upon does not exist. This belief must evoke fear because the heart knows that what the spiritual eye sees is Reality, which the physical eyes cannot look upon, only being able to perceive separation.

Release from the fear of dark and Light involves two phases. First is the recognition that darkness cannot hide anything from spiritual sight because the Light, by definition, automatically dispels darkness. This recognition usually entails fear, because it acknowledges that nothing is “safe” from the Light, either the harm you believe exists and waits in darkness or the flaws you believe in and are ashamed of in yourself. Second is the recognition that there is nothing you want to hide even if you could, knowing that it is only the Light that can remove all you are ashamed of or fear may harm you. This acknowledgment brings release from fear. As soon as you have completely entered the second phase – of knowing you have nothing to hide – you will not only be willing to enter into true connection with others, but will also understand Peace and Joy.

The statement attributed to me in the Christian Bible: that if you are ashamed of me before people I will be ashamed of you before the Divine, is interpreted as a threat only as long as you remain at the first phase of the release from the fear of dark and Light, i.e., recognizing that darkness cannot hide anything from spiritual sight. What this statement really means is that if you are embarrassed by Love – ashamed of what you are afraid that close connection with others, including with me, would reveal in you ­– you will project that fear and therefore make it very difficult for anyone, including me, to reach you. Make every effort you can not to engage in this kind of mis-projection. I will help you as much as you will let me.

As long as your commitment to the Great Awakening and to the Atonement It leads to is not yet total you will still have more to learn than to teach. When your commitment is total and your new equilibrium in relation to this commitment stabilizes, you will be able to teach as much as you learn. This will give you the proper sense of balance. Meanwhile, remember that no effort on your part is wasted. Unless you remember this, you cannot rightfully avail yourself of my efforts on your behalf, which are limitless.