A COURSE IN MIRACLES

1. I have said you have but two emotions, love and fear. ²One [love] is changeless but continually exchanged, being offered by the eternal to the eternal. ³In this exchange [the exchange of love] it [love] is extended, for it [love] increases as it [love] is given. ⁴The other [fear] has many forms, for the content of individual illusions differs greatly. ⁵Yet they [individual illusions] have one thing in common: they [individual illusions] are all insane. ⁶They [individual illusions] are made of sights that are not seen, and sounds that are not heard. ⁷They [individual illusions] make up a private world that cannot be shared. ⁸For they [individual illusions] are meaningful only to their [individual illusions’] maker, and so they [individual illusions] have no meaning at all. ⁹In this world their [individual illusions’] maker moves alone, for only he [individual illusions’ maker] perceives them.

There are only two emotions, love and fear. Love does not change. The eternal extends love by exchanging love. We make illusions out of the things we see and hear. We live in private worlds of illusion that make us fearful.

2. Each one peoples his [each one’s] world with figures from his [each one’s] individual past, and it is because of this [peopling worlds with figures from the past] that private worlds do differ. ²Yet the figures that he [each one] sees were never real, for they [the figures] are made up only of his [each one’s] reactions to his [each one’s] brothers, and do not include their [each one’s brothers’] reactions to him. ³Therefore, he [each one] does not see he [each one] made them [figures], and that they [figures] are not whole. ⁴For these figures have no witnesses, being perceived in one separate mind only.

Our illusions are made up of people from our past and our reactions to them. Our illusions separate our minds from each other.

3. It is through these strange and shadowy figures that the insane relate to their [the insane’s] insane world. ²For they [the insane] see only those who remind them [the insane] of these images [illusion’s figures], and it is to them [illusory figures] that they [the insane] relate. ³Thus do they [the insane] communicate with those [illusory figures] who are not there, and it is they [illusory figures] who answer them [the insane]. ⁴And no one hears their [illlusory figures’] answer save him [the insane one] who called upon them [illusory figures], and he [the insane one] alone believes they [illusory figures] answered him [the insane one]. ⁵Projection makes perception, and you cannot see beyond it [projection]. ⁶Again and again have you attacked your brother, because you saw in him [your brother] a shadow figure in your private world. ⁷And thus it is you must attack yourself first, for what you attack is not in others. ⁸Its [what you attack’s] only reality is in your own mind, and by attacking others you are literally attacking what is not there.

You relate to people on the basis of how they remind you what is in your own private illusion. You project your own thoughts onto them. By attacking them you are actually attacking yourself.

… the first twenty-five [lessons] specifically aim at the beginning of the process of correcting or undoing our faulty perceptions. Emphasis is also placed in these early lessons upon the cause–effect relationship that exists between our thoughts and our perceptions, reflecting the the text’s principle: “projection makes perception”. (see also T-21.in.I.1) Wapnick, FCTL, p.17

4. The delusional can be very destructive, for they [the delusional] do not recognize they have condemned themselves [the delusional’s selves]. ²They [the delusional] do not wish to die, yet they [the delusional] will not let condemnation go. ³And so they [the delusional] separate into their [the delusional’s] private worlds, where everything is disordered, and where what is within appears to be without. ⁴Yet what is within they [the delusional] do not see, for the reality of their [the delusional’s] brothers they cannot recognize.

The delusional have condemned themselves. They separate into private worlds and project condemnation. The do not see the reality of their brothers.

5. You have but two emotions, yet in your private world you react to each of them [emotion] as though it [each emotion] were the other [emotion]. ²For love cannot abide in a world apart, where when it [love] comes it [love] is not recognized. ³If you see your own hatred as your brother, you are not seeing him [your own brother]. ⁴Everyone draws nigh unto what he [everyone] loves, and recoils from what he [everyone] fears. ⁵And you react with fear to love, and draw away from it [love]. ⁶Yet fear attracts you, and believing it [fear] is love, you call it [fear] to yourself. ⁷Your private world is filled with figures of fear you have invited into it [your private world], and all the love your brothers offer you, you do not see.

In your private world you react to fear as if it was love. Love attracts you and so you try to come close to it. You do not recognize love, so you react to love as if it was fear, and recoil from it. If you see your own hatred as your brother, you are not seeing him. You have invited figures of fear to fill your private world. You do not see the love your brothers offer you.

You have become insane. You see and hear what is not there. Instead of communicating you are listening only to yourself. Your see only your split mind. But you should be hearing God’s call and seeing Christ.

7. Little child, would you offer this [insanity] to your Father? ²For if you offer it [insanity] to yourself, you are offering it [insanity] to Him [your Father]. ³And He will not return it [insanity], for it [insanity] is unworthy of you because it [insanity] is unworthy of Him [your Father]. ⁴Yet He [your Father] would release you from it [insanity] and set you free. ⁵His [your Father’s] sane Answer tells you what you have offered yourself is not true, but His [your Father’s] offering to you has never changed. ⁶You who know not what you do can learn what insanity is, and look beyond it [insanity]. ⁷It is given you to learn how to deny insanity, and come forth from your private world in peace. ⁸You will see all that you denied in your brothers because you denied it [what you denied in your brothers] in yourself. ⁹For you will love them [your brothers], and by drawing nigh unto them [your brothers]you will draw them [your brothers] to yourself, perceiving them [your brothers] as witnesses to the reality you share with God. ¹⁰I am with them [your brothers] as I am with you, and we will draw them [your brothers] from their [your brothers’] private worlds, for as we are united so would we unite with them [your brothers]. ¹¹The Father welcomes all of us in gladness, and gladness is what we should offer Him [the Father]. ¹²For every Son of God is given you to whom God gave Himself [God’s own self]. ¹³And it is God Whom you must offer them [every Son of God], to recognize His [God’s] gift to you.

Do not offer insanity to yourself or God. God wants to set you free from your insanity. You can deny insanity and look beyond it. Then you can love your brothers because they remind you of God. God offers himself to us all and we offer God to each other. We will all be one together.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” —Luke 23:34

…he cried in a loud voice, “Lazurus, here! Come out!”. The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, let him go free”. —John 11:43–44

8. Vision depends on light. ²You cannot see in darkness. ³Yet in darkness, in the private world of sleep, you see in dreams although your eyes are closed. ⁴And it is here [in darkness] that what you see you made. ⁵But let the darkness go and all you made you will no longer see, for sight of it [what you made] depends upon denying vision. ⁶Yet from denying vision it does not follow you cannot see. ⁷But this [denying vision] is what denial does, for by it [denying vision] you accept insanity, believing you can make a private world and rule your own perception. ⁸Yet for this [a private world], light must be excluded. ⁹Dreams disappear when light has come and you can see.

In darkness you sleep, you have dreams and you see what you made in the dream. This is all a private world. Dreams disappear when the light comes, giving true vision.

9. Do not seek vision through your eyes, for you made your way of seeing that you might see in darkness, and in this [making a way of seeing in darkness] you are deceived. ²Beyond this darkness, and yet still within you, is the vision of Christ, Who looks on all in light. ³Your “vision” comes from fear, as His [Christ’s vision comes] from love. ⁴And He [Christ] sees for you, as your witness to the real world. ⁵He [Christ] is the Holy Spirit’s manifestation, looking always on the real world, and calling forth its [the real world’s] witnesses and drawing them [the real world’s witnesses] to you. ⁶He [Christ] loves what He [Christ] sees within you, and He [Christ] would extend it [what Christ sees within you]. ⁷And He [Christ] will not return unto the Father until He [Christ] has extended your perception even unto Him [the Father]. ⁸And there perception is no more, for He [Christ] has returned you to the Father with Him [Christ].

You deceive yourself by making a way of seeing in darkness. Instead Christ can help you see with you can see with love. You can extend what you see with love even to God. Christ's vision will return you to the Father.

It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. —John 13:1

I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, he will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father. —John 14:12

10. You have but two emotions, and one [fear] you made and one [love] was given you. ²Each [fear and love] is a way of seeing, and different worlds arise from their [fear and love’s] different sights. ³See through the vision that is given you, for through Christ’s vision He [Christ] beholds Himself [Christ’s own self]. ⁴And seeing what He [Christ] is, He [Christ] knows His [Christ’s] Father. ⁵Beyond your darkest dreams He [Christ] sees God’s guiltless Son within you, shining in perfect radiance that is undimmed by your dreams. ⁶And this [the perfect radiance of God’s Son] you will see as you look with Him [Christ], for His [Christ’s] vision is His [Christ’s] gift of love to you, given Him [Christ] of the Father for you.

You made fear yourself. The vision of Christ gives you love. Your dreams cannot dim God’s guiltless Son’s perfect shining radiance.

11. The Holy Spirit is the light in which Christ stands revealed. ²And all who would behold Him [Christ] can see Him [Christ], for they [beholders of Christ] have asked for light. ³Nor will they [beholders of Christ] see Him [Christ] alone, for He [Christ] is no more alone than they [beholders of Christ] are. ⁴Because they [beholders of Christ] saw the Son, they [beholders of Christ] have risen in Him [Christ] to the Father. ⁵And all this will they [beholders of Christ] understand, because they [beholders of Christ] looked within and saw beyond the darkness the Christ in them [beholders of Christ], and recognized Him [Christ]. ⁶In the sanity of His [Christ’s] vision they [beholders of Christ] looked upon themselves [beholders of Christ’s own selves] with love, seeing themselves [beholders of Christ’s own selves] as the Holy Spirit sees them [beholders of Christ]. ⁷And with this vision of the truth in them came all the beauty of the world to shine upon them [beholders of Christ.

If you want to see Christ, ask for light. The vision of Christ will take you to the Father. You will see yourself sanely, as the Holy Spirit sees you.