I Am: A Course in Miracles (ACIM)

lesson 38 â??There is nothing my holiness cannot do.â?? Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance and limits of any kind. Your holiness is totally unlimited in its power because it establishes you as a Son of God, at one with the Mind of his Creator. Through your holiness the power of God is made manifest.Through your holiness the power of God is made available.And there is nothing the power of God cannot do. Your holiness, then, can remove all pain, can end all sorrow, and can solve all problems. It can do so in connection with yourself and with anyone else. It is equal in its power to help anyone, because it is equal in its power to save anyone. If you are holy, so is everything God created.You are holy because all things He created are holy.And all things He created are holy because you are. In todayâ??s exercises, we will apply the power of your holiness to all problems, difficulties or suffering in any form that you happen to think of in yourself or someone else.We will make no distinctions because there are no distinctions. In the four longer practice periods, each preferably to last a full five minutes, repeat the idea for today, close your eyes, and then search your mind for any sense of loss or unhappiness of any kind as you see it. Try to make as little distinction as possible between a situation that is difficult for you and one that is difficult for someone else. Identify the situation specifically, and also the name of the person concerned. Use this form in applying the idea for today: â??In the situation involving ______ in which I see myself, there is nothing that my holiness cannot do.â?? â??In the situation involving ______ in which _____ sees himself, there is nothing my holiness cannot do.â?? From time to time you may want to vary this procedure, and add some relevant thoughts of your own. You might like, for

lesson 37 â??My holiness blesses the world.â?? This idea contains the first glimmerings of your true function in the world, or why you are here.Your purpose is to see the world through your own holiness.Thus are you and the world blessed together. No- one loses; nothing is taken away from anyone; everyone gains through your holy vision. It signifies the end of sacrifice, because it offers everyone his full due. And he is entitled to everything, because it is his birthright as a Son of God. There is no other way in which the idea of sacrifice can be removed from the worldâ??s thinking. Any other way of seeing will inevitably demand payment of someone or something. As a result, the perceiver will lose. Nor will he have any idea why he is losing.Yet is his wholeness restored to his awareness through your vision.Your holiness blesses him by asking nothing of him. Those who see themselves as whole make no demands. Your holiness is the salvation of the world. It lets you teach the world that it is one with you, not by preaching to it, not by telling it anything, but merely by your quiet recognition that in your holiness are all things blessed, along with you. Todayâ??s four longer exercise periods, each to involve three to five minutes of practice, begin with the repetition of the idea for today, followed by a minute or so of looking about you as you apply the idea to whatever you see: â??My holiness blesses this chair.â?? â??My holiness blesses that window.â?? â??My holiness blesses this body.â?? Then close your eyes and apply the idea to any person who occurs to you, using his name and saying: â??My holiness blesses you, [name].â?? You may continue the practice period with your eyes closed; you may open your eyes again and apply the idea for today to your outer world if you so desire; you may alternate between applying it

lesson 36 â??My holiness envelops everything I see.â?? Todayâ??s idea extends the idea for yesterday from the perceiver to the perceived. You are holy because your mind is part of Godâ??s. And because you are holy, your sight must be holy as well.â??Sinlessâ?? means without sin.You cannot be without sin a little.You are sinless or not. If your mind is part of Godâ??s you must be sinless, or a part of His Mind would be sinful.Your sight is related to His holiness, not to your ego and therefore not to your body. Four three to five minute practice periods are required for today. Try to distribute them fairly evenly, and make the shorter applications frequently, to protect your protection throughout the day.The longer practice periods should take this form: First, close your eyes and repeat the idea for today several times slowly. Then open your eyes and look quite slowly about you, applying the idea specifically to whatever you note in your casual survey. Say, for example: â??My holiness envelops that rug.â?? â??My holiness envelops that wall.â?? â??My holiness envelops these fingers.â?? â??My holiness envelops that chair.â?? â??My holiness envelops that body.â?? â??My holiness envelops this pen.â?? Several times during these practice periods, close your eyes and repeat the idea to yourself. Then open your eyes, and continue as before. For the shorter exercise periods, close your eyes and repeat the idea; look about you as you repeat it again; and conclude with one more repetition with your eyes closed. All applications should, of course,bemadequiteslowly,aseffortlesslyandunhurriedlyaspossible.

lesson 35 â??My mind is part of Godâ??s. I am very holy.â?? Todayâ??s idea does not describe the way you see yourself now. It does, however, describe what vision will show you. It is difficult for anyone who thinks he is in this world to believe this of himself.Yet the reason he thinks he is in this world is because he does not believe it. You will believe that you are part of where you think you are. That is because you surround yourself with the environment you want.And you want it to protect the image of yourself that you have made.The image is part of it.What you see while you believe you are in it is seen through the eyes of the image. It is not vision. Images cannot see. The idea for today presents a very different view of yourself. By establishing your Source it establishes your Identity, and it describes you as you must really be in truth.We will use a somewhat different kind of application for todayâ??s idea, because the emphasis for today is on the perceiver, rather than on what he perceives. For each of the three five-minute practice periods today, begin by repeating todayâ??s idea to yourself, and then close your eyes and search your mind for the various kinds of descriptive terms in which you see yourself. Include all of the ego-based attributes which you ascribe to yourself, positive or negative, desirable or undesirable, grandiose or debased.All of them are equally unreal because you do not look upon yourself through the eyes of holiness. In the earlier part of the mind searching period, you will probably emphasize what you consider to be the more negative aspects of your perception of yourself.Toward the latter part of the exercise period, however, more self-inflating descriptive terms may well cross your mind. Try to recognize that the direction of your fantasies about yourself does not matter. Illusions have no direction in reality.They are merely not true. A suitable unselected list for applying the idea for today might be as follows: â??I see myself as imposed on.â?? â??I see myself as depressed.â??

lesson 34 â??I could see peace instead of this.â?? The idea for today begins to describe the conditions that prevail in the other way of seeing. Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. It must begin with your own thoughts, and then extend outward. It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises. Three longer practice periods are required for todayâ??s exercises. One in the morning and one in the evening is advised, with an additional one to be undertaken at any time inbetween which seems most conducive to readiness. All applications should be done with your eyes closed. It is your inner world to which the applications of todayâ??s idea should be made. Some five minutes of mind searching are required for each of the longer practice periods. Search your mind for fear thoughts, anxiety provoking situations, â??offendingâ?? personalities or events, or anything else about which you are harboring unloving thoughts. Note them all casually, repeating the idea for today slowly as you watch them arise in your mind, and let each one go, to be replaced by the next. If you begin to experience difficulty in thinking of specific subjects, continue to repeat the idea to yourself in an unhurried manner, without applying it to anything in particular. Be sure, however, not to make any specific exclusions. The shorter applications are to be frequent, and made whenever you feel your peace of mind is threatened in any way.The purpose is to protect yourself from temptation throughout the day. If a specific form of temptation arises in your awareness, the exercise should take this form: â??I could see peace in this situation instead of what I now see in it.â?? If the inroads on your peace of mind take the form of more generalized adverse emotions, such as depression, anxiety or worry, use the idea in its original form. If you find you need more than one application of todayâ??s idea to help you change your mind in any specific context, try to take several minutes and devote them to PART I

lesson 33 â??There is another way of looking at the world.â?? Todayâ??s idea is an attempt to recognize that you can shift your perception of the world in both its outer and inner aspects.A full five minutes should be devoted to the morning and evening application. In these practice periods, the idea should be repeated as often as you find profitable, though unhurried applications are essential. Alternate between surveying your outer and inner perceptions, but without an abrupt sense of shifting. Merely glance casually around the world you perceive as outside yourself, then close your eyes and survey your inner thoughts with equal casualness. Try to remain equally uninvolved in both, and to maintain this detachment as you repeat the idea throughout the day. The shorter exercise periods should be as frequent as possible. Specific applications of todayâ??s idea should also be made immediately when any situation arises which tempts you to become disturbed. For these applications, say: â??There is another way of looking at this.â?? Remember to apply todayâ??s idea the instant you are aware of distress. It may be necessary to take a minute or so to sit quietly and repeat the idea to yourself several times. Closing your eyes will probably help in this form of application.

lesson 32 â??I have invented the world I see.â?? Today we are continuing to develop the theme of cause and effect. You are not the victim of the world you see because you invented it. You can give it up as easily as you made it up.You will see it or not see it, as you wish. While you want it you will see it; when you no longer want it, it will not be there for you to see. The idea for today, like the preceding ones, applies to your inner and outer worlds, which are actually the same. However, since you see them as different, the practice periods for today will again include two phases, one involving the world you see outside you, and the other the world you see in your mind. In todayâ??s exercises, try to introduce the thought that both are in your own imagination. Again we will begin the practice periods for the morning and evening by repeating the idea for today two or three times while looking around at the world you see as outside yourself.Then close your eyes and look around your inner world.Try to treat them both as equally as possible. Repeat the idea for today unhurriedly as often as you wish, as you watch the images your imagination presents to your awareness. For the two longer practice periods, three to five minutes are recommended, with not less than three required. More than five can be utilized, if you find the exercises restful.To facilitate this, select a time when few distractions are anticipated, and when you yourself feel reasonably ready. These exercises are also to be continued during the day, as often as possible. The shorter applications consist of repeating the idea slowly, as you survey either your inner or outer world. It does not matter which you choose. The idea for today should also be applied immediately to any situation which may distress you.Apply the idea by telling yourself: â??I have invented this situation as I see it.â??

lesson 31 â??I am not the victim of the world I see.â?? Todayâ??s idea is the introduction to your declaration of release.Again, the idea should be applied to both the world you see without and the world you see within. In applying the idea, we will use a form of practice which will be used more and more, with changes as indicated. Generally 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. Two longer periods of practice with the idea for today are needed, one in the morning and one at night.Three to five minutes for each of them is recommended. During that time, look about you slowly while repeating the idea two or three times.Then close your eyes, and apply the same idea to your inner world.You will escape from both together, for the inner is the cause of the outer. 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.Try not to establish any thought of hierarchy among them. Watch them come and go as dispassionately as possible. Do 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.As you sit and quietly watch your thoughts, repeat todayâ??s idea to yourself as often as you care to, but with no sense of hurry. In addition, repeat the idea for today as often as possible during the day. Remind yourself that you are making a declaration of independence in the name of your own freedom. And in your freedom lies the freedom of the world. The idea for today is also a particularly useful one to use as a response to any form of temptation. It is a declaration that you will not yield to it and put yourself in bondage.

lesson 30 â??God is in everything I see because God is in my mind.â?? The idea for today is the springboard for vision. From 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. Nor will what you saw before be even faintly visible to you. Today we are trying to use the new kind of projection.We are not attempting to get rid of what we do not like by seeing it outside. Instead, we are trying to see in the world what is in our minds, and what we want to recognize is there.Thus we are trying to join with what we see, rather than keeping it apart from us. That is the fundamental difference between vision and the way you see. Todayâ??s idea should be applied as often as possible throughout the day. Whenever 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. Real vision is not limited to concepts such as â??nearâ?? and â??far.â?? To 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 todayâ??s idea. Real vision is not only unlimited by space and distance, but it does not depend on the bodyâ??s eyes at all.The mind is its only source. To aid in helping you to become more accustomed to this idea as well, devote several practice periods to applying todayâ??s idea with your eyes closed, using whatever subjects come to mind, and looking within rather than without.Todayâ??s idea applies equally to both.

lesson 29 â??God is in everything I see.â?? The idea for today explains why you can see all purpose in anything. It explains why nothing is separate, by itself or in itself. And it explains why nothing you see means anything. In fact, it explains every idea we have used thus far, and all subsequent ones as well. Todayâ??s idea is the whole basis for vision. You will probably find this idea very difficult to grasp at this point. You may find it silly, irreverent, senseless, funny and even objectionable. Certainly God is not in a table, for example, as you see it.Yet we emphasized yesterday that a table shares the purpose of the universe. And what shares the purpose of the universe shares the purpose of its Creator. Try then, today, to begin to learn how to look on all things with love, appreciation and open-mindedness.You do not see them now. Would you know what is in them? Nothing is as it appears to you. Its holy purpose stands beyond your little range.When vision has shown you the holiness that lights up the world, you will understand todayâ??s idea perfectly.And you will not understand how you could ever have found it difficult. 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. Try to avoid the tendency toward self-directed selection, which may be particularly tempting in connection with todayâ??s idea because of its wholly alien nature. Remember that any order you impose is equally alien to reality. Your list of subjects should therefore be as free of self-selection as possible. For example, a suitable list might include: â??God is in this coat hanger.â?? â??God is in this magazine.â?? â??God is in this finger.â?? â??God is in this lamp.â?? â??God is in that body.â?? â??God is in that door.â??

lesson 28 â??Above all else I want to see things differently.â?? Today we are really giving specific application to the idea for yesterday. In these practice periods, you will be making a series of definite commitments.The question of whether you will keep them in the future is not our concern here. If you are willing at least to make them now, you have started on the way to keeping them. And we are still at the beginning. You may wonder why it is important to say, for example,â??Above all else I want to see this table differently.â?? In itself it is not important at all.Yet what is by itself? And what does â??in itself â?? mean? You see a lot of separate things about you, which really means you are not seeing at all.You either see or not.When you have seen one thing differently, you will see all things differently.The light you will see in any one of them is the same light you will see in them all. When you say, â??Above all else I want to see this table differently,â?? you are making a commitment to withdraw your preconceived ideas about the table, and open your minds to what it is, and what it is for.You are not defining it in past terms.You are asking what it is, rather than telling it what it is.You are not binding its meaning to your tiny experience of tables, nor are you limiting its purpose to your little personal thoughts. You will not question what we have already defined. And the purpose of these exercises is to ask questions and receive the answers. In saying,â??Above all else I want to see this table differently,â??you are committing yourself to seeing. It is not an exclusive commitment. It is a commitment which applies to the table just as much as to anything else, neither more nor less. You could, in fact, gain vision from just that table, if you could withdraw all your own ideas from it, and look upon it with a completely open mind. It has something to show you; something beautiful and clean and of infinite value, full of happiness and hope. Hidden under all your ideas about it is its real purpose, the purpose it shares with all the universe. In using the table as a subject for applying the idea for today you

lesson 27 â??Above all else I want to see.â?? Todayâ??s idea expresses something stronger than mere determination. It gives vision priority among your desires.You may feel hesitant about using the idea on the ground that you are not sure you really mean it.This does not matter.The purpose of todayâ??s exercises is to bring the time when the idea will be wholly true a little nearer. 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. If you become uneasy about the lack of reservation involved, add: â??Vision has no cost to anyone.â?? If fear of loss still persists, add further: â??It can only bless.â?? The idea for today needs many repetitions for maximum benefit. It should be used at least every half hour, and more often if possible. You might try for every fifteen or twenty minutes. It 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. It will not be difficult to do this, even if you are engaged in conversation or otherwise occupied at the time.You can still repeat one short sentence to yourself without disturbing anything that is going on. The real question is how often will you remember? How much do you want todayâ??s idea to be true? Answer one of these questions, and you have answered the other. You will probably miss several applications, and perhaps quite a number. Do not be disturbed by this, but do try to keep on your schedule from then on. If only once during the day you feel that you were perfectly sincere while you were repeating todayâ??s idea, you can be sure that you have saved yourself many years of effort.

lesson 26 â??My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.â?? It is surely obvious that if you can be attacked you are not invulnerable. You see attack as a real threat. That is because you believe that you can really attack. And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you. It is this law that will ultimately save you. But you are misusing it now.You must therefore learn how it can be used for your own best interests, rather than against them. Because your attack thoughts will be projected, you will fear attack. And if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable.Attack thoughts therefore make you vulnerable in your own mind, which is where the attack thoughts are. Attack thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together. They contradict each other. The idea for today introduces the thought that you always attack yourself. If attack thoughts must entail the belief that you are vulnerable, their effect is to weaken you in your own eyes.Thus they have attacked your perception of yourself. And because you believe in them, you can no longer believe in yourself. A false image of yourself has come to take the place of what you are. Practice with todayâ??s idea will help you to understand that vulnerability or invulnerability is the result of your own thoughts. Nothing except your thoughts can attack you. Nothing except your thoughts can make you think you are vulnerable. And nothing except your thoughts can prove to you this is not so. Six practice periods are required in applying todayâ??s idea.A 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. Do not reduce it further. The practice period should begin with repeating the idea for today, then closing your eyes and reviewing the unresolved situations whose outcomes are causing you concern.The concern may take the form of depression, worry, anger, a sense of imposition, fear, foreboding or preoccupation. Any problem as yet unsettled which

lesson 25 â??I do not know what anything is for.â?? Purpose is meaning. Todayâ??s idea explains why nothing you see means anything. You do not know what it is for. Therefore it is meaningless to you. Everything is for your own best interests.That is what it is for; that is its purpose; that is what it means. It is in recognizing this that your goals become unified. It is in recognizing this that what you see is given meaning. You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals.These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is not you. This false identification makes you incapable of understanding what anything is for. As a result, you are bound to misuse it.When you believe this, you will try to withdraw the goals you have assigned to the world, instead of attempting to reinforce them. Another way of describing the goals you now perceive as valuable is to say that they are all concerned with â??personalâ?? interests. Since you have no personal interests, your goals are really concerned with nothing. In cherishing them, therefore, you have no goals at all. And thus you do not know what anything is for. Before you can make any sense out of the exercises for today, one more thought is necessary. At the most superficial levels, you do recognize purpose.Yet purpose cannot be understood at these levels. For example, you do understand that a telephone is for the purpose of talking to someone who is not physically in your immediate vicinity. What you do not understand is what you want to reach him for.And it is this that makes your contact with him meaningful or not. It is crucial to your learning to be willing to give up the goals you have established for everything.The recognition that they are meaningless, rather than â??goodâ?? or â??bad,â?? is the only way to accomplish this.The idea for today is a step in this direction. Six practice periods, each of two minutes duration, are required. Each 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, â??importantâ?? or

lesson 24 â??I do not perceive my own best interests.â?? In no situation which arises do you realize the outcome that would make you happy.Therefore you have no guide to appropriate action, and no way of judging the results.What you do is determined by your perception of the situation, and that perception is wrong. It is inevitable, then, that you will not serve your own best interests.Yet they are your only goal in any situation which is correctly perceived. Otherwise, you will not recognize what they are. If you realized that you do not perceive your own best interests, you could be taught what they are. But in the presence of your conviction that you do know what they are, you cannot learn. The idea for today is a step toward opening your mind so that learning can begin. The exercises for today require much more honesty than you are accustomed to using. A 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.Two minutes are suggested for each of the mind searching periods which the exercises involve. Practice periods begin with repeating todayâ??s idea, followed by searching the mind, with closed eyes, for unresolved situations about which you are currently concerned. The emphasis should be on uncovering the outcome you want.You 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. Name each situation that occurs to you, and enumerate carefully as many goals as possible that you would like to be met in its resolution.The form of each application should be roughly as follows: â??In the situation involving _____, I would like _____ to happen, and _____ to happen,â?? and so on.Try to cover as many different kinds of outcome as may honestly occur to you, even if some of them do not appear to you to be directly related to the situation, or even to be inherent in it at all.