Welcome to Active Meditation.
A Course in Miracles Lesson 23 I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.
As we prepare for this exercise,
We place our body in a comfortable position and close our eyes.
We will be opening up our eyes again for this exercise.
We relax by noting where the tension is in our body,
And to increase the relaxation,
We remove all expression from our face.
Do all this now.
I will wait.
This is a Course in Miracles.
It is a required course.
Only the time you take it is voluntary.
Some of the ideas the exercises present you will find hard to believe,
And others may seem to be quite startling.
This does not matter.
You are merely asked to apply the exercises as you are directed to do.
You are not asked to judge them at all.
You are asked only to use them.
It is their use that will give them meaning to you,
And will show you that they are true.
The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way,
To a different perception of everyone and everything in the world.
This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.
The idea for today contains the only way out of fear that will ever succeed.
Nothing else will work.
Everything else is meaningless.
But this way cannot fail.
Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see.
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 see is attack thoughts,
You must learn that it is these thoughts which 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 effect will change automatically.
The world you see is a vengeful world,
And everything in it is a symbol of vengeance.
Each of your perceptions of external reality is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts.
One can well ask if this can be called seeing.
Is not a fantasy a better word for such a process?
And hallucination a more appropriate term for the result?
The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in the world you see because its cause can be changed.
This change requires first that the cause be identified and then let go,
So that it can be replaced.
The first two steps in this process require your cooperation.
The final one does not.
Your images have already been replaced.
By taking the first two steps,
You will see that this is so.
Besides using it throughout the day,
As the need arises,
Five practice periods are required in applying today's idea.
As 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.
As each one crosses your mind,
Say,
I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts about identifying the attack thoughts.
Hold each attack thought in mind as you say this,
And then dismiss that thought and go on to the next.
Let's practice.
Open your eyes.
As you look about you,
Repeat to yourself,
I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts about name the attack thoughts.
Close your eyes.
Now,
Search your mind for as many attack thoughts as occur to you.
As each one crosses your mind,
Say,
I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts about name the attack thoughts.
Witness each attack thought in your mind as you say this,
Then dismiss that thought and go on to the next.
Do this now.
In the practice periods,
Be sure to include both your thoughts of attacking and of being attacked.
Their effects are exactly the same,
Because they are exactly the same.
You do not recognize this as yet,
And you are asked at this time only to treat them as the same in today's practice period.
We are still at the stage of identifying the cause of the world you see.
When you finally learn that thoughts of attack and of being attacked are not different,
You will be ready to let the cause go.
Let's practice again.
Open your eyes.
Look around.
Say to yourself,
Say in your mind,
I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts about identifying the attack thoughts.
Close your eyes.
Search your mind for as many attack thoughts as occur to you.
As each one crosses your mind,
Say again,
I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts about observing the thoughts.
Hold each attack thought in mind as you say this,
Then dismiss that thought and go on to the next.
Do this now.
Remember only this.
You need not believe the ideas,
You need not accept them,
And you need not even welcome them.
Some of them you may actively resist.
None of this will matter or decrease their efficacy.
But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook contains.
And whatever your reactions to the ideas may be,
Use them.
Nothing more than that is required.
You see the world that you have made,
But you do not see yourself as the image maker.
You cannot be saved from the world,
But you can escape from its cause.
This is what salvation means.
For where is the world you see when its cause is gone?
Vision already holds a replacement for everything you think you see now.
Loveliness can light your images and so transform them that you will love them,
Even though they were made of hate.
For you will not be making them alone.
You can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts.
The purpose of the workbook is to train your mind in a systematic way to a different perception of everyone and everything in the world.
Let's return to our regular levels of thought and feeling.
Take a few deep breaths.
Return to the waking state.
Take time and space.
I now know.
I am aware.
I am.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
