A Course in Miracles.
Lesson 198.
Only my condemnation hinders me.
Injury is impossible,
And yet delusion makes illusion.
Injury is impossible,
And yet delusion makes illusion.
If you can condemn,
You can be injured.
You have believed that you can injure.
You have believed that the right you have established for yourself can now be used against you until you lay it down as valueless,
Unwanted,
And unreal.
Only then does illusion cease to have effects,
And the effects it seemed to have will be undone.
Then you are free.
For freedom is your gift,
And you can now receive the gift you gave.
Condemn,
And you are made a prisoner.
Forgive,
And you are free.
Such is the law that rules perception.
It is not a law that knowledge understands,
For freedom is a part of knowledge.
To condemn is thus impossible in truth.
What seems to be condemnation's influence and its effects have not occurred at all,
Yet must we deal with these a while,
As if they had occurred.
Illusion makes illusion,
Except one.
Forgiveness makes forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the illusion that is the answer to the rest.
Forgiveness sweeps all other dreams away,
And though forgiveness is itself a dream,
It breeds no others.
All illusions,
Save forgiveness,
Must multiply a thousandfold.
But forgiveness is where illusions end.
Forgiveness is the end of dreams,
Because forgiveness is a dream of waking.
Forgiveness is not itself the truth,
Yet does it point to where the truth must be.
Forgiveness gives direction with the certainty of God Himself.
Forgiveness is a dream in which the child of God awakens to our higher self,
And to God,
Our Father,
Knowing we are one.
Forgiveness is the only road that leads to salvation,
Out of disaster,
Past all suffering,
And finally,
Away from death.
How could there be another way,
When this way is the plan of God Himself?
Why would you oppose the way of forgiveness,
Or quarrel with it,
Or seek to find a thousand ways in which forgiveness must be wrong,
Or a thousand other possibilities?
Is it not wiser to be glad that you hold the answer to your problems in your hand?
Is it not more intelligent to thank the One who gives salvation,
And accept this gift with gratitude?
Is it not a kindness to yourself,
To others,
To hear God's voice,
And learn the simple lessons He would teach,
Instead of trying to dismiss His words and substitute your own in place of His?
His words will work.
His words will save.
The words of Christ contain all hope.
His words contain all blessing,
And contain all the joy that can ever be found upon this earth.
His words are born in God and come to you with heaven's love upon them.
Those who hear His words have heard the song of heaven.
These are words in which all words merge as one at last.
And as this one word will fade away,
The word of God will come to take its place,
For this word will be remembered and loved.
This world we live in has many seeming separate haunts,
Where mercy has no meaning,
Where attack appears as justified.
Yet all are one.
This world is a place where death is offered,
Offered to God's children and to their father.
You may think they have accepted death,
But if you look again upon the place where you beheld their blood,
You will perceive a miracle instead.
This world is a place where death is offered,
Offered to God's children and to their father.
How foolish to believe that they could die.
How foolish to believe you can attack.
Dreams of any kind are strange and alien to the truth.
What but truth could have a thought which builds a bridge to it,
That brings illusions to the other side?
Today we practice letting freedom come to make its home with us.
The truth bestows these words upon our mind,
That we may find the key to light and let the darkness end.
Say to yourself after me,
Only my condemnation injures me.
Only my own forgiveness sets me free.
Only my condemnation injures me.
Only my own forgiveness sets me free.
Only my own forgiveness sets me free.
Only my condemnation injures me.
Only my own forgiveness sets me free.
Do not forget today that there can be no form of suffering that fails to hide an unforgiving thought.
Nor can there be a form of pain forgiveness cannot heal.
Except the one illusion which proclaims there is no condemnation in God's child,
And heaven will be then remembered instantly.
The world will be forgotten,
And all its weird beliefs forgotten with it,
As the face of Christ appears,
Unveiled,
At last,
In this one dream.
This is the gift the Holy Spirit holds for you,
From God,
Your Father.
Let the day be celebrated,
Both on earth and in your holy home as well.
Be kind to both as you forgive the trespasses you thought them guilty of.
See your innocence shining upon you from the face of Christ.
Now is there silence all around the world.
Now is there stillness where before there was a frantic rush of thoughts that made no sense.
Now is there tranquil light across the face of earth.
Light made quiet in a dreamless sleep.
And now the Word of God alone remains upon it.
Only that can be perceived an instant longer.
Then are symbols done,
And everything you ever thought you made has completely vanished from the mind that God forever knows to be his only Son.
There is no condemnation in him.
He is perfect in his holiness.
He needs no thoughts of mercy.
Who could give him gifts when everything is his?
Who could dream of offering forgiveness to the Son of sinlessness itself?
So like him,
Whose Son he is,
That to behold the Son is to perceive no more,
And only know the Father.
In this vision of the Son,
So brief,
That not an instant stands between this single sight and timelessness itself.
You see the vision of yourself,
And then you disappear forever into God.
Today we come still nearer to the end of everything that stands between this vision and our sight.
Only my condemnation injures me.
Only my own forgiveness sets me free.
Ponder on this.
Only my condemnation injures me.
Only my own forgiveness sets me free.
See the vision of yourself,
Then disappear forever into God.
We are glad that we have come this far.
We recognize that the One who brought us here will not forsake us.
For he would give to us the gift that God has given us,
Through him,
Today.
Now is the time for your deliverance.
The time has come.
The time has come,
Today.
Only my condemnation injures me.
Only my own forgiveness sets me free.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
