Lesson 197

"It can be but my gratitude I earn."

This lesson is the next step to freedom from the belief that outside forces are against you. You must show gratitude and lavish thanks or your attempts at kindness and forgiveness will turn into attack. Receive your gifts with honor or they may be withdrawn. You end up thinking these gifts from God are merely on loan, or even deceptions making you defenseless. You may think that this will ensure God will strike you down and kill you.

Those who do not know what their thoughts can do, sometimes easily confuse God and guilt. If you deny your true strength then weakness will become your salvation. If you see yourself as a prisoner then you will be behind bars. Once you see that freedom and salvation go hand in hand and guilt has no part in it, you will be liberated. The world will reflect this, and thank you for releasing it from your illusions. Give thanks and earn the gratitude you may have denied yourself by forgetting the function God has given you.

Lesson 198

"Only my condemnation injures me."

Injury is impossible unless you believe the illusion that you can condemn. In believing that you can injure, it can be used against you, until you see that it has no value and is not true. Then the illusion will have no effect on you, and the seeming effects from before will be undone. In forgiving, you are freed from the prison of condemning. This is the law of perception. Forgiveness is the one illusion that is the answer to all the rest. Forgiveness wipes away all falsities. It does not create other illusions. It is the illusion that points to where truth is.

You would be wise to treasure the fact that you have the answer to your problems in your hands. Forgiveness will lead you out of disaster, away from death. Do not fight it. Practice allowing freedom to be within you today. These words are from a deep truth, find in them the key to light and an end to the darkness:

"Only my condemnation injures me.
Only my own forgiveness sets me free."

Unforgiving thoughts are hidden within all forms of suffering, but any form of pain can be healed by forgiveness. There is no condemnation in God, He is holy and perfect, He will not forsake us. Be glad of how far we have come today and recognize that He brought us here. The time for your deliverance has come today.

Lesson 199

"I am not a body. I am free."

When you think you are your body then freedom is impossible. The body limits you. When you see that you are not your body then your mind can be free. If your mind serves the Holy Spirit, then it is unlimited forever and in every way. You are beyond the laws of time and space, with no preconceptions to bind you. Thoughts of attack and fear cannot enter after you give your mind to the Source of Love. You have attached your mind to love, resting in God. Only loving and innocent, you cannot be afraid.

This is an essential idea that you should hold very dear. Your ego may think it is insane, because the body is its home. The body is part of the illusion that keeps the illusion of the ego from deteriorating. Bring the gift of freedom that you have found to others who still believe they are imprisoned within their bodies. God shares His Love and joy every time you say:

"I am not a body. I am free.
I hear the Voice That God has given me,
And it is only This my mind obeys."

Lesson 200

"There is no peace except the peace of God."

You will find peace in God alone. You do not need to search for anything else. If you look elsewhere, you will not find anything but disappointment. When you see all the world as blessed then you will be free. Everyone will cross the bridge of peace to leave this world behind. Peace is the answer to problems like conflicting goals and vain pursuits. God will guide us on this steady path to Heaven. He will not desert His Son, He calls and the Son will hear. That's all there is to this world that appears to be apart from God.

Look no further— leave behind false desires and the hopelessness that you once sought. We draw nearer to our home in Heaven each time we say:

"There is no peace except the peace of God,
And I am glad and thankful it is so."

Review VI

Practice only one idea each day as often as possible. Devote at least fifteen minutes in the morning and evening. Truly learning each idea will be enough for salvation and release. These invite the memory of God to come again and free the world from every form of bondage. Within just one of these lessons the rest are also reflected if you follow that one with no exceptions. Use them all and see them blending as one, each contributing to the whole. These practice session are focused on a central theme:

"I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me."

Do not allow any idle thought to go unchallenged. Gently let the thought which you denied be given up and quickly exchange it for the new idea you are practicing today. When you are tempted, proclaim your freedom and say:

"This thought I do not want. I choose instead                                                 ."

Repeat the idea for the day and let it take the place of what you thought. Give these quiet moments to the Teacher Who instructs in quiet, speaks of peace, and gives our thoughts whatever meaning they have. He will not fail to be available to you. Trust him completely, for that way, each practice period can become a loving gift of freedom to the world.

Lesson 201

"I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me."

• "I trust my brothers, who are one with me."
"No one but is my brother, I am blessed
With oneness with the universe and God,
My Father, one Creator of the whole
That is my Self, forever one with me."

"I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me."

Lesson 202

• "I will be still an instant and go home."
"Why would I choose to stay an instant more
Where I do not belong, when God himself
Has given me His Voice to call me home?"

"I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me."

Lesson 203

"I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me."

• "I call upon God's Name and on my own."
"The Name of God is my deliverance. From every thought of evil and of sin,
Because it is my own as well as His."

"I am not a body. I am free.
For I am still as God created me."