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Lesson 31 - I am not the victim of the world I see.

1. Today’s idea is the introduction to your declaration of release. ²Again, the idea should be applied to both the world you see without and the world you see within. ³In applying the idea, we will use a form of practice which will be used more and more, with changes as indicated. ⁴Generally speaking, the form includes two aspects, one in which you apply the idea on a more sustained basis, and the other consisting of frequent applications of the idea throughout the day.

2. Two longer periods of practice with the idea for today are needed, one in the morning and one at night. ²Three to five minutes for each of these are recommended. ³During that time, look about you slowly while repeating the idea two or three times. ⁴Then close your eyes, and apply the same idea to your inner world. ⁵You will escape from both together, for the inner is the cause of the outer.

3. As you survey your inner world, merely let whatever thoughts cross your mind come into your awareness, each to be considered for a moment, and then replaced by the next. ²Try not to establish any kind of hierarchy among them. ³Watch them come and go as dispassionately as possible. ⁴Do not dwell on any one in particular, but try to let the stream move on evenly and calmly, without any special investment on your part. ⁵As you sit and quietly watch your thoughts, repeat today’s idea to yourself as often as you care to, but with no sense of hurry.

4. In addition, repeat the idea for today as often as possible during the day. ²Remind yourself that you are making a declaration of independence in the name of your own freedom. ³And in your freedom lies the freedom of the world.

5. The idea for today is also a particularly useful one to use as a response to any form of temptation that may arise. ²It is a declaration that you will not yield to it, and put yourself in bondage.

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This lesson comes from (A Course in Miracles). Hemelbewus presents it in Afrikaans as part of a path of inner healing and forgiveness. The translation was done with great care and dedication over several years by Henri Theron, and brings the deep spiritual teachings of the Course to Afrikaans-speaking readers.

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Lesson 31: I am not the victim of the world I see. (ACIM, W-31)

Lesson 30 - God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.

1. The idea for today is the springboard for vision. ²From this idea will the world open up before you, and you will look upon it and see in it what you have never seen before. ³Nor will what you saw before be even faintly visible to you.

2. Today we are trying to use a new kind of “projection.” ²We are not attempting to get rid of what we do not like by seeing it outside. ³Instead, we are trying to see in the world what is in our minds, and what we want to recognize is there. ⁴Thus, we are trying to join with what we see, rather than keeping it apart from us. ⁵That is the fundamental difference between vision and the way you see.

3. Today’s idea should be applied as often as possible throughout the day. ²Whenever you have a moment or so, repeat it to yourself slowly, looking about you, and trying to realize that the idea applies to everything you do see now, or could see now if it were within the range of your sight.

4. Real vision is not limited to concepts such as “near” and “far.” ²To help you begin to get used to this idea, try to think of things beyond your present range as well as those you can actually see, as you apply today’s idea.

5. Real vision is not only unlimited by space and distance, but it does not depend on the body’s eyes at all. ²The mind is its only source. ³To 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. ⁴Today’s idea applies equally to both.

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Lesson 30: God is in everything I see because God is in my mind. (ACIM, W-30)

Lesson 29 - God is in everything I see.

1. The idea for today explains why you can see all purpose in everything. ²It explains why nothing is separate, by itself or in itself. ³And it explains why nothing you see means anything. ⁴In fact, it explains every idea we have used thus far, and all subsequent ones as well. ⁵Today’s idea is the whole basis for vision.

2. You will probably find this idea very difficult to grasp at this point. ²You may find it silly, irreverent, senseless, funny and even objectionable. ³Certainly God is not in a table, for example, as you see it. ⁴Yet we emphasized yesterday that a table shares the purpose of the universe. ⁵And what shares the purpose of the universe shares the purpose of its Creator.

3. Try then, today, to begin to learn how to look on all things with love, appreciation and open-mindedness. ²You do not see them now. ³Would you know what is in them? ⁴Nothing is as it appears to you. ⁵Its holy purpose stands beyond your little range. ⁶When vision has shown you the holiness that lights up the world, you will understand today’s idea perfectly. ⁷And you will not understand how you could ever have found it difficult.

4. Our six two-minute practice periods for today should follow a now familiar pattern: Begin with repeating the idea to yourself, and then apply it to randomly chosen subjects about you, naming each one specifically. ²Try to avoid the tendency toward self-directed selection, which may be particularly tempting in connection with today’s idea because of its wholly alien nature. ³Remember that any order you impose is equally alien to reality.

5. Your list of subjects should therefore be as free of self-selection as possible. ²For example, a suitable list might include:

³God is in this coat hanger.

⁴God is in this magazine.

⁵God is in this finger.

⁶God is in this lamp.

⁷God is in that body.

⁸God is in that door.

⁹God is in that waste basket.

¹⁰In addition to the assigned practice periods, repeat the idea for today at least once an hour, looking slowly about you as you say the words unhurriedly to yourself. ¹¹At least once or twice, you should experience a sense of restfulness as you do this.

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Lesson 29: God is in everything I see. (ACIM, W-29)

Lesson 28 - Above all else I want to see things differently.

1. Today we are really giving specific application to the idea for yesterday. ²In these practice periods, you will be making a series of definite commitments. ³The question of whether you will keep them in the future is not our concern here. ⁴If you are willing at least to make them now, you have started on the way to keeping them. ⁵And we are still at the beginning.

2. You may wonder why it is important to say, for example, “Above all else I want to see this table differently.” ²In itself it is not important at all. ³Yet what is by itself? ⁴And what does “in itself” mean? ⁵You see a lot of separate things about you, which really means you are not seeing at all. ⁶You either see or not. ⁷When you have seen one thing differently, you will see all things differently. ⁸The light you will see in any one of them is the same light you will see in them all.

3. When you say, “Above all else I want to see this table differently,” you are making a commitment to withdraw your preconceived ideas about the table, and open your mind to what it is, and what it is for. ²You are not defining it in past terms. ³You are asking what it is, rather than telling it what it is. ⁴You are not binding its meaning to your tiny experience of tables, nor are you limiting its purpose to your little personal thoughts.

4. You will not question what you have already defined. ²And the purpose of these exercises is to ask questions and receive the answers. ³In saying, “Above all else I want to see this table differently,” you are committing yourself to seeing. ⁴It is not an exclusive commitment. ⁵It is a commitment that applies to the table just as much as to anything else, neither more nor less.

5. You could, in fact, gain vision from just that table, if you would withdraw all your own ideas from it, and look upon it with a completely open mind. ²It has something to show you; something beautiful and clean and of infinite value, full of happiness and hope. ³Hidden under all your ideas about it is its real purpose, the purpose it shares with all the universe.

6. In using the table as a subject for applying the idea for today, you are therefore really asking to see the purpose of the universe. ²You will be making this same request of each subject that you use in the practice periods. ³And you are making a commitment to each of them to let its purpose be revealed to you, instead of placing your own judgment upon it.

7. We will have six two-minute practice periods today, in which the idea for the day is stated first, and then applied to whatever you see about you. ²Not only should the subjects be chosen randomly, but each one should be accorded equal sincerity as today’s idea is applied to it, in an attempt to acknowledge the equal value of them all in their contribution to your seeing.

8. As usual, the applications should include the name of the subject your eyes happen to light on, and you should rest your eyes on it while saying:

²Above all else I want to see this _________ differently.

Each application should be made quite slowly, and as thoughtfully as possible. ⁴There is no hurry.

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Lesson 28: Above all else I want to see things differently. (ACIM, W-28)

Lesson 27 - Above all else I want to see.

1. Today’s idea expresses something stronger than mere determination. ²It gives vision priority among your desires. ³You may feel hesitant about using the idea, on the grounds that you are not sure you really mean it. ⁴This does not matter. ⁵The purpose of today’s exercises is to bring the time when the idea will be wholly true a little nearer.

2. There may be a great temptation to believe that some sort of sacrifice is being asked of you when you say you want to see above all else. ²If you become uneasy about the lack of reservation involved, add:

³Vision has no cost to anyone.

⁴If fear of loss still persists, add further:

⁵It can only bless.

3. The idea for today needs many repetitions for maximum benefit. ²It should be used at least every half hour, and more if possible. ³You might try for every fifteen or twenty minutes. ⁴It is recommended that you set a definite time interval for using the idea when you wake or shortly afterwards, and attempt to adhere to it throughout the day. ⁵It will not be difficult to do this, even if you are engaged in conversation, or otherwise occupied at the time. ⁶You can still repeat one short sentence to yourself without disturbing anything.

4. The real question is, how often will you remember? ²How much do you want today’s idea to be true? ³Answer one of these questions, and you have answered the other. ⁴You will probably miss several applications, and perhaps quite a number. ⁵Do not be disturbed by this, but do try to keep on your schedule from then on. ⁶If only once during the day you feel that you were perfectly sincere while you were repeating today’s idea, you can be sure that you have saved yourself many years of effort.

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Lesson 27: Above all else I want to see. (ACIM, W-27)

Lesson 26 - My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.

1. It is surely obvious that if you can be attacked you are not invulnerable. ²You see attack as a real threat. ³That is because you believe that you can really attack. ⁴And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you. ⁵It is this law that will ultimately save you, but you are misusing it now. ⁶You must therefore learn how it can be used for your own best interests, rather than against them.

2. Because your attack thoughts will be projected, you will fear attack. ²And if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable. ³Attack thoughts therefore make you vulnerable in your own mind, which is where the attack thoughts are. ⁴Attack thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together. ⁵They contradict each other.

3. The idea for today introduces the thought that you always attack yourself first. ²If attack thoughts must entail the belief that you are vulnerable, their effect is to weaken you in your own eyes. ³Thus they have attacked your perception of yourself. ⁴And because you believe in them, you can no longer believe in yourself. ⁵A false image of yourself has come to take the place of what you are.

4. Practice with today’s idea will help you to understand that vulnerability or invulnerability is the result of your own thoughts. ²Nothing except your thoughts can attack you. ³Nothing except your thoughts can make you think you are vulnerable. ⁴And nothing except your thoughts can prove to you this is not so.

5. Six practice periods are required in applying today’s idea. ²A full two minutes should be attempted for each of them, although the time may be reduced to a minute if the discomfort is too great. ³Do not reduce it further.

6. The practice period should begin with repeating the idea for today, then closing your eyes and reviewing the unresolved questions whose outcomes are causing you concern. ²The concern may take the form of depression, worry, anger, a sense of imposition, fear, foreboding or preoccupation. ³Any problem as yet unsettled that tends to recur in your thoughts during the day is a suitable subject. ⁴You will not be able to use very many for any one practice period, because a longer time than usual should be spent with each one. ⁵Today’s idea should be applied as follows:

7. First, name the situation:

²I am concerned about _________.

³Then go over every possible outcome that has occurred to you in that connection and which has caused you concern, referring to each one quite specifically, saying:

⁴I am afraid _________ will happen.

8. If you are doing the exercises properly, you should have some five or six distressing possibilities available for each situation you use, and quite possibly more. ²It is much more helpful to cover a few situations thoroughly than to touch on a larger number. ³As the list of anticipated outcomes for each situation continues, you will probably find some of them, especially those that occur to you toward the end, less acceptable to you. ⁴Try, however, to treat them all alike to whatever extent you can.

9. After you have named each outcome of which you are afraid, tell yourself:

²That thought is an attack upon myself.

³Conclude each practice period by repeating today’s idea to yourself once more.

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Lesson 26: My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability. (ACIM, W-26)

Lesson 25 - I do not know what anything is for.

1. Purpose is meaning. ²Today’s idea explains why nothing you see means anything. ³You do not know what it is for. ⁴Therefore, it is meaningless to you. ⁵Everything is for your own best interests. ⁶That is what it is for; that is its purpose; that is what it means. ⁷It is in recognizing this that your goals become unified. ⁸It is in recognizing this that what you see is given meaning.

2. You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals. ²These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is not you. ³This false identification makes you incapable of understanding what anything is for. ⁴As a result, you are bound to misuse it. ⁵When you believe this, you will try to withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them.

3. Another way of describing the goals you now perceive is to say that they are all concerned with “personal” interests. ²Since you have no personal interests, your goals are really concerned with nothing. ³In cherishing them, therefore, you have no goals at all. ⁴And thus you do not know what anything is for.

4. Before you can make any sense out of the exercises for today, one more thought is necessary. ²At the most superficial levels, you do recognize purpose. ³Yet purpose cannot be understood at these levels. ⁴For example, you do understand that a telephone is for the purpose of talking to someone who is not physically in your immediate vicinity. ⁵What you do not understand is what you want to reach him for. ⁶And it is this that makes your contact with him meaningful or not.

5. It is crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have established for everything. ²The recognition that they are meaningless, rather than “good” or “bad,” is the only way to accomplish this. ³The idea for today is a step in this direction.

6. Six practice periods, each of two-minutes duration, are required. ²Each practice period should begin with a slow repetition of the idea for today, followed by looking about you and letting your glance rest on whatever happens to catch your eye, near or far, “important” or “unimportant,” “human” or “nonhuman.” ³With your eyes resting on each subject you so select, say, for example:

⁴I do not know what this chair is for.

⁵I do not know what this pencil is for.

⁶I do not know what this hand is for.

⁷Say this quite slowly, without shifting your eyes from the subject until you have completed the statement about it. ⁸Then move on to the next subject, and apply today’s idea as before.

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Lesson 25: I do not know what anything is for. (ACIM, W-25)

Lesson 24 - I do not perceive my own best interests.

1. In no situation that arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy. ²Therefore, you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the result. ³What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong. ⁴It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests. ⁵Yet they are your only goal in any situation which is correctly perceived. ⁶Otherwise, you will not recognize what they are.

2. If you realized that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could be taught what they are. ²But in the presence of your conviction that you do know what they are, you cannot learn. ³The idea for today is a step toward opening your mind so that learning can begin.

3. The exercises for today require much more honesty than you are accustomed to using. ²A few subjects, honestly and carefully considered in each of the five practice periods which should be undertaken today, will be more helpful than a more cursory examination of a large number. ³Two minutes are suggested for each of the mind-searching periods which the exercises involve.

4. The practice periods should begin with repeating today’s idea, followed by searching the mind, with closed eyes, for unresolved situations about which you are currently concerned. ²The emphasis should be on uncovering the outcome you want. ³You will quickly realize that you have a number of goals in mind as part of the desired outcome, and also that these goals are on different levels and often conflict.

5. In applying the idea for today, name each situation that occurs to you, and then enumerate carefully as many goals as possible that you would like to be met in its resolution. ²The form of each application should be roughly as follows:

³In the situation involving _________, I would like _________ to happen, and _________ to happen,

and so on. ⁴Try to cover as many different kinds of outcomes as may honestly occur to you, even if some of them do not appear to be directly related to the situation, or even to be inherent in it at all.

6. If these exercises are done properly, you will quickly recognize that you are making a large number of demands of the situation which have nothing to do with it. ²You will also recognize that many of your goals are contradictory, that you have no unified outcome in mind, and that you must experience disappointment in connection with some of your goals, however the situation turns out.

7. After covering the list of as many hoped-for goals as possible, for each unresolved situation that crosses your mind say to yourself:

²I do not perceive my own best interests in this situation,

and go on to the next one.

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Lesson 24: I do not perceive my own best interests. (ACIM, W-24)

Lesson 23 - I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.

1. The idea for today contains the only way out of fear that will ever succeed. ²Nothing else will work; everything else is meaningless. ³But this way cannot fail. ⁴Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see. ⁵It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.

2. If the cause of the world you see is attack thoughts, you must learn that it is these thoughts which you do not want. ²There is no point in lamenting the world. ³There is no point in trying to change the world. ⁴It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. ⁵But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world. ⁶Here you are changing the cause. ⁷The effect will change automatically.

3. The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of vengeance. ²Each of your perceptions of “external reality” is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts. ³One can well ask if this can be called seeing. ⁴Is not fantasy a better word for such a process, and hallucination a more appropriate term for the result?

5. The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in the world you see, because its cause can be changed. ²This change requires, first, that the cause be identified and then let go, so that it can be replaced. ³The first two steps in this process require your cooperation. ⁴The final one does not. ⁵Your images have already been replaced. ⁶By taking the first two steps, you will see that this is so.

5. Vandag se idee stel die gedagte bekend dat jy nie hulpeloos vasgevang is in die wêreld wat jy sien nie, want die oorsaak daarvan kan verander word. ²Dit vereis eerstens dat die oorsaak geïdentifiseer en daarna verwyder word, sodat dit vervang kan word. ³Die eerste twee stappe in hierdie proses vra jou samewerking. ⁴Die finale een vra dit nie. ⁵Jou beelde is alreeds vervang. ⁶Deur die eerste twee stappe te neem, sal jy sien dat dit so is.

6. Besides using it throughout the day as the need arises, five practice periods are required in applying today’s idea. ²As you look about you, repeat the idea slowly to yourself first, and then close your eyes and devote about a minute to searching your mind for as many attack thoughts as occur to you. ³As each one crosses your mind say:

⁴Ek kan ontsnap aan die wêreld wat ek sien deur aanvalsgedagtes oor __________ op te gee.

⁵Hold each attack thought in mind as you say this, and then dismiss that thought and go on to the next.

7. In the practice periods, be sure to include both your thoughts of attacking and of being attacked. ²Their effects are exactly the same because they are exactly the same. ³You do not recognize this as yet, and you are asked at this time only to treat them as the same in today’s practice periods. ⁴We are still at the stage of identifying the cause of the world you see. ⁵When you finally learn that thoughts of attack and of being attacked are not different, you will be ready to let the cause go.

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Lesson 23: I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts. (ACIM, W-23)

Lesson 22 - What I see is a form of vengeance.

1. Today’s idea accurately describes the way anyone who holds attack thoughts in his mind must see the world. ²Having projected his anger onto the world, he sees vengeance about to strike at him. ³His own attack is thus perceived as self defense. ⁴This becomes an increasingly vicious circle until he is willing to change how he sees. ⁵Otherwise, thoughts of attack and counter-attack will preoccupy him and people his entire world. ⁶What peace of mind is possible to him then?

2. It is from this savage fantasy that you want to escape. ²Is it not joyous news to hear that it is not real? ³Is it not a happy discovery to find that you can escape? ⁴You made what you would destroy; everything that you hate and would attack and kill. ⁵All that you fear does not exist.

3. Look at the world about you at least five times today, for at least a minute each time. ²As your eyes move slowly from one object to another, from one body to another, say to yourself:

³I see only the perishable.

⁴I see nothing that will last.

⁵What I see is not real.

⁶What I see is a form of vengeance.

⁷At the end of each practice period, ask yourself:

⁸Is this the world I really want to see?

⁹The answer is surely obvious.

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Lesson 22: What I see is a form of vengeance. (ACIM, W-22)

✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:

✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:

✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:

✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:

✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:

✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:

✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:

✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:

✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:

✨ Inspired by the core message of the Course:

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