 Hi everyone, welcome again to the spontaneous ACIM workbook lesson of the day and today we're doing lesson number 23 on the 23rd day of January here. I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts. So what a precious lesson. In fact, for those of you that are doing the lessons, you know, you may sometimes wonder as you're going through the lessons, why? Why is this true? Well, this lesson today explains everything. So it's the reason that the first 22 lessons are true. This one really explains it. So we'll go into it together here. 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 quote external reality is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts. One can well ask if this can be called seeing. It is not fantasy a better word for such a process and hallucination a more appropriate term for the result. 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. The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in the world you see because its cause can be changed. This cause 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 whatever the thoughts are hold each attack thought in mind as you say this and then dismiss that thought and go on to the next. 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 is yet and you are asked at this time only to treat them as the same in today's practice periods. 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 so there's some key ideas in there first of all again we're being reminded that the mind is causative and that the world is a projection of ego thoughts of attack thoughts so the world of images the body all the bodies all the circumstances all the situations everything about time and space that is an effect you might say if there was a big bang the big bang was the belief in separation in the mind and the cosmic time space cosmos is the effect and everything is part of those unreal effects from an unreal cause the egos and unreal cause and all the things even the electrons the molecules the atoms all the way up to the the cells the the body the bodies and on and on off to the cosmic gases black holes and stars and planets and spheres solar systems galaxies all of it they're all a fact of the belief in separation from god they're all a fact of the belief in in a fall from grace and the good news jesus is telling us is that the images have already been replaced and he's working his way to saying there's like three steps and the first two you know you have to require your cooperation so you have to really identify the cause of the world as as these attack thoughts in the mind and then you have to not protect them you have to literally give them away and when you give them away basically that's that your images have already been replaced so you first have to identify the cause and then let go when we say let go and let god we're really meaning let go of attack thoughts in the mind let go of judgments in the mind let go of grievances in the mind let go in the end of of all of your thoughts of the past and all of your thoughts in the future and when we say let go we're talking about positive thoughts about this world and negative thoughts about this world the positive thoughts are are shadows of the light and as i've said earlier the the negative thoughts are are darker shades are dark shadows and basically you can't experience the light directly and the freedom of abstract love and and unconditional love and spirit as long as you hold on to the positive thoughts or the negative thoughts so all those old ideas about accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative we'll say uh don't hold on to either the positive thoughts or the negative thoughts because they're both judgments they're just judging in different directions and the final point of this lesson is basically saying that we're just identifying the attack thoughts as the cause of the world but but you'll notice that there will be a temptation to make a distinction between thoughts of attacking and being attacked and Jesus is telling us they are the same and everyone knows that thoughts of a victim victimizer attacker attacky you know the one who's doing it to someone and the one who's being done against all of those are part of the system of duality that the ego invented to keep the mind guilty so in the end all attack thoughts meaning thoughts where you perceive that you're being attacked and thoughts where you perceive yourself as attacking you have to begin to open up your mind to start to see that they're the same and when you do when you finally learn that thoughts of attack and being attacked are not different you will be ready to let the cause go okay practical uh considerations um I have a question that was written me just today on a couple different platforms it's from uh Jamuna in Hawaii aloha brother what do you do when forgiveness seems to be going nowhere that nothing is happening so you've prayed for help and and you feel like your forgiveness practice forgiveness seems to be going nowhere but when I first read your question Jamuna I thought of that line in A Course in Miracles where Jesus is saying forgiveness is quiet and silently does nothing it looks and waits and watches and judges not so forgiveness is the state of mind as it relates to our lesson today that is pristine that is free of attack thoughts it's like a state of mind that is not reached through any doing or not doing in the world because the world is in effect so when we say it's going nowhere when you've mentioned forgiveness seems to be going nowhere I think it's because that forgiveness is associated with form and oftentimes people say well I've tried to forgive I've tried to forgive all the people that I've ever had a grievance with or anyone who comes to mind that I feel upset with I've tried to forgive it the bible says forgive 70 times seven I've tried that it doesn't seem to be that that that is the number and and basically it's because there's still the belief in an external world and external causation and as long as there is the belief in externals from the mind that that's what projection is and then projection seems to be a trap for the mind in which you pray for help and then you wonder wow why why am I not able to forgive and for many centuries after Jesus taught forgiveness 2000 years ago many many centuries people have been trying to forgive but this is where the metaphysics come in where you start to realize that that you're not trying to forgive something that is outside of your mind you're actually trying to forgive attack thoughts that you still believe are real and those that belief in the reality of attack is something that really needs to be questioned exposed released so you could say that even the lesson implies just allow yourself to be aware of any attack thoughts and he says search your mind for these attack thoughts but these unconscious attack thoughts will seem to keep arising and arising and arising until the impossibility of attack is realized to have an attack you have to have two you have to have an attacker and an attack II to have mistreatment you have to have to you have to have one who's mistreating and one who's being mistreated that's duality that's the duality of the ego in the world the world is a projection of the ego belief system it's a projection of attack thoughts and in this projection there seems to be opposites hot and cold fast and slow high and low beautiful ugly you know on and on and on it just goes cold and warm it just keeps going and going male and female and on and on and on and basically what we see is these are the attack thoughts of the ego it's not just what people call condemnation but it's actually just trying to believe in images and give images a reality I know sometimes people say well what what does what does this situation mean in and of itself or what does what does this phone call that I just got mean in and of itself nothing means anything in and of itself because nothing is in itself the mind is whole the mind is complete everything is under the laws of God the laws of love so this distorted perception is what we're looking at today and we're basically using the lesson I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts this is like an expanded version of what Jesus taught 2000 years ago when he said judge not lest ye be judged this this is a modern day version of that here we are 2023 and this is what we're dealing with right now okay and we also had a question that came in recently from Sarah Antony in the United Kingdom and it's making a little bit of a reference to to a workbook lesson I I did recently which was lesson number 17 Sarah writes thank you for these live sessions David so helpful on top of your pre-recorded text lessons playlist so here is my question regarding lesson 22 and it follows on from the question covered in lesson 17 session let's take the same situation that our friend who is a mother of a troublesome teen teenage son who cannot be persuaded to stop being on his phone computer games I understood the principle within your answer to change our mind rather than to change the world the analogy that it isn't the TV channel but was the TV that is faulty was very helpful so I'm starting to get the point that this is all about retraining healing our minds but maybe I don't really truly get it because I still want to know what to do in the interim as it seems after nearly four years with the course it is a gradual process so what does the mother do should she be completely passive about a son so nothing but focus entirely on practicing the lessons or is there a course guided aka spirit guided action what is the right action in this situation many much gratitude for these sessions hoping I get lucky and my question is picked I will be listening well the thing that we need to remember first of all is a lot of spiritualities talk about right action and what Jesus is teaching us in the course is what you do comes from what you think so that's why he said in the lesson I just read today workbook lesson 23 it is it is with your thoughts that we must work because the change can only take place in shifting from a mind that is thinking attack thoughts to a mind that is not thinking attack thoughts a mind that either is ego invested or a mind that is fully invested in the Holy Spirit what Jesus calls these two aspects of mind is the right mind and the wrong mind the right mind is where we get the guidance from Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the wrong mind is the misperception of an external problem that's not out there because there is no out there out there so so basically you're asking for the practicality and the practicality that I always talk about is is guidance when you really are able to be open and tune in and it takes a lot of focus and practice you receive guidance and I've counseled many people and many mothers who have shared the same kind of question and we will have a joining there and join in deep prayer and sometimes there is a guidance for setting some guidelines in the world you know they talk about setting boundaries and limits Jesus would say follow your inner guidance and there may be times when a guidance comes through that is a it's always a temporary measure but it's also designed to bring your mind toward the light toward the present moment so even when there's guidelines that are set in a situation with maybe with a child who's spending all their time much of their time on a computer or a phone playing games which was what came up the question that she's referring to here so basically the guidance is so so important but the guidance is always to bring you to the present moment it's always to unwind you from the self-concept the guidance is always to collapse time to save time to bring the alpha and the omega together as Jesus taught I am the alpha I'm the omega you know in other words I am the beginning and the end I am the presence of love that's guiding you right now to remember your true identity through forgiving and releasing all attack thoughts all judgments all grievances so these kind of guidance has may come and even when the guidance has come and you're you're guided to deliver the guidance still you are not in charge of the outcomes of the world you're not in charge of the behavior of the body what you do comes from what you think and we're not to draw conclusions and draw interpretations based on the bodies we're asked to follow the Holy Spirit's interpretation to see the forgiven world every single situation you could just take one lesson from the course I could see peace instead of this and it's an invitation inward to the mind and to the stillness and you can see that that as long as there's investments and outcomes whether it's with anybody's behavior a child's behavior in this case or anybody's behavior it's always coming back to to the to the belief that there's something causative in form and something needs to be corrected in form and Jesus just told us in the lesson today lesson 23 you know there is no need no use lamenting the world he said there is no use trying to change the world so we're coming back to that beautiful presence in mind seek not to change the world seek rather to change your mind about the world he says it in different ways but it's it's the same teaching it's the same thing to practice all the time so with these two questions also what was coming to mind is when people read the lesson for the day I can escape the world I see by giving up attack thoughts sometimes they'll have a thought like wow easier said than done or I don't know if I can do that you know the ego will doubt that you have the power to change your mind about your mind to to fully give up the belief in judgment the fully give up the belief in attack thoughts all of them every single attack that emptied completely gone released and the doubt will come in sometimes and sometimes the doubt is associated with things that are preferred in this world things that the mind is attracted to there's three subsections in the text back to back the attraction to guilt is one subsection the attraction to pain is another subsection followed by the attraction to death and and really you can start to see that if the images are just illusory images and they're just effects of the ego's thought system and the ego's belief system then you can't really arrange these false effects into hierarchies of of positive effects and negative effects positive outcomes negative outcomes you can't judge the world when when Jesus is saying judge not he's saying escape this world by escaping its cause meaning escape the world which is the ego's world by escaping the cause of the world which is the ego escape the ego let go that ego he's telling us let let it go let go of all attack thoughts let go of grievances the grievances hide your light they hide that you are the light of the world they hide your Christ light if you hold on to grievances so I thought as an incentive I would just give a little glimpse of okay what happens if I empty my mind and I let go of attack thoughts what if I really thoroughly go all the way with lesson 23 here and I I totally start to realize I can escape from the world I see by giving up attack thoughts and so I was praying this morning and I was given a little a subsection from chapter 17 and chapter 17 is titled forgiveness and the holy relationship and I was guided to section two which is called the forgiven world this is our incentives this is whenever you have those doubt thoughts so you think what am I going to have to give up that I still value what am I going to have to give up that I still want whenever you look to the world or to the body and you think oh there's still some some goals and outcomes and things that I want from the world what's the incentive to say I can escape the world by giving up attack thoughts well the incentive is the forgiven world the real world the happy dream a dream of non-judge and non-judgment that that is the incentive so I'm going to read a little bit of this you know so you can get a feel for how wonderful the real world is because once you start to feel your heart connecting to the real world then the judgmental world of the ego is not going to hold any sway any attraction talk about fade and fade and disappear and disappear of course that happens to the projected ego world because you don't value it anymore but let's look at closely what is valuable which is the step between the distorted world and the kingdom of heaven it's the forgiven world it's it's the forgiven world of of non-judgment this is called the forgiven world can you imagine how beautiful those you forgive will look to you in no fantasy have you ever seen anything so lovely nothing you see here sleeping or waking comes near to such loveliness and nothing will you value like unto this nor hold so dear nothing that you remember that made your heart sing with joy has ever brought you even a little part of the happiness this sight will bring you for you will see the son of god you will behold the beauty the holy spirit loves to look upon and which he thanks the father for he was created to see this for you until you learn to see it for yourself and all his teaching leads to seeing it and giving thanks with him this loveliness is not a fantasy it is the real world right and clean and new with everything sparkling under the open sun nothing is hidden here for everything has been forgiven and there are no fantasies to hide the truth the bridge between that world and this is so little and so easy to cross that you could not believe it is the meaning place of worlds so different yet this little bridge is the strongest thing that touches on this world at all this little step so small it has escaped your notice is a stride through time into eternity beyond all ugliness into beauty that will enchant you and will never cease to cause you wonderment at its perfection we're getting words in there enchant enchanted wonderment perfection this step the smallest ever taken is still the greatest accomplishment of all in god's plan of atonement all else is learned but this is given complete and holy perfect no one but him who plans salvation could complete it thus the real world and its loveliness you learn to reach fantasies are all undone and no one and nothing remains still bound by them and by your own forgiveness you are free to see yet what you see is only what you made with the blessing of your forgiveness on it and with this final blessing of god's sign upon himself the real perception born of the new perspective he has learned has served its purpose the stars will disappear in light and the sun that opened up the world to beauty will vanish perception will be meaningless when it has been perfected for everything that has been used for learning will have no function you know it this section is just who just flowering of enchantment and wonderment and joy and love and and this reminds me of a couple workbook lessons we'll get to in this year 128 the world I see it was nothing that I want and then 129 beyond this world is a world I want he'll just keep coming back with this he's going to keep enchanting us back to the kingdom of heaven reaching us through the wonderment of the miracle the wonderment of a child that beholds innocence we're going to keep opening and opening and opening our hearts and minds to this beautiful real world and it's it's not so much learned as it is given this is a gift from the Holy Spirit some of you who are aware of the bible you know there's you're aware of a very famous passage in the bible and john for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but shall have eternal life and jesus says well there's just one minor correction to that passage for god so loved the world that he gave it to his only begotten son and what he means by that is when the sun seemed to fall asleep and dream of separation from god dream of war and pestilence and disease and and greed and on and on then the real world was given as as the correction the real world is the Holy Spirit's gift to the sleeping son of god and if you feel like something is holding you back from forgiveness it's just that you haven't reached a point of of saying i want to see the real world i want to accept the gift of the Holy Spirit i want to accept the correction of this error called ego if from a christian term if if you were aware that there seemed to be this fall from grace and this uh this uh entity called satan well what if that entity of satan is a belief and that is a false belief let's just say that god is really love and that satan is the belief that you can separate from god and have an identity apart from god that's the definition of satan and if if you give it back if you give up all the attack thoughts of ego all the attack thoughts of satan and you really do sincerely take the lesson today i can escape from the world i see by giving up attack thoughts what you're really doing is then you're saying and i'm open to receive what has been given to me as a gift for the sleeping mind to wake up and remember the truth to remember christ to remember heaven and and to receive that gift is requires to release the attack thoughts you can't hold on to judgments and grievances and attack thoughts and still receive the gift because you're not ready uh basically jesus has told us in the lesson today you know if you still are not willing to release the attack thoughts then you're not ready to release the attack thoughts and underneath that is is still wanting to hold on to something that god didn't create so if god creates only love and god gives only love which is the truth perfection love eternity extends perfection love eternity innocence extends innocence you know it's just the way of creation uh everything that comes from god is like god uh perfectly like god and then when you try to deny that you're literally pushing holding off the holy spirit's gift of the real world so wow what a beautiful lesson today and i'm glad that we got uh the question from jamuna about you know what if it's not working and and also the last lesson that we learned the last question was from sarah anthony and basically that was answered in the sense that that you do follow guidance that that uh when we talk about passivity we could say that the ultimate helpfulness of passivity is in the mind and that's what jesus said in the gospel of thomas be passers by uh meaning you can just watch the world and observe the world without judgment and then your mind is healed but it's not talking about passivity in terms of form otherwise what would be the point of the guidance you could be guided by the spirit into various actions and through following the guidance you can be taken back to that point of witnessing to the point of of of like seeing the world in a different way completely being a passers by to the world that's that's where it's all heading but i can say from the last 35 years for me there's been lots of guidance that i've received and that came through me either spoken through me or acted through me and this guidance has been very practical and very helpful if anyone thinks that jesus is not practical then then it's just a matter of tuning into the guidance and being intuitive and once you're a hundred percent intuitive you're much more ready to be a passers by be passers by to this world you're much more ready to watch the world with the holy spirit and accept the holy spirit's interpretation so thank you for joining in today and again write in your questions if you have questions come up or with issues and things that you would like me to address and let's keep it spontaneous but i i feel some some more lessons coming this week precious ones this week so let's let's meet again see you soon love you