 We continue today with the manual for teachers number 16 How should the teacher of God spend his day to the advanced teacher of God this question is meaningless There is no program for the lessons change each day Yet the teacher of God is sure of but one thing. They do not change at random Seeing this and understanding that it is true He rest content He will be told all that his role should be this day and every day and Those who share that role with him will find him so they can learn the lessons for the day together Not one is absent whom he needs Not one is sent without a learning goal already set and one which can be learned that very day For the advanced teacher of God then this question is superfluous It has been asked and answered and he keeps in constant contact with the answer He is set and sees the road on which he walks stretch surely and smoothly Before him, but what about those who have not reached his certainty? They are not yet ready for such lack of structuring on their own part What must they do to learn to give the day to God There are some general rules which do apply. Although each one must use them as best he can in his own way Routines as such are dangerous because they easily become gods in their own right threatening the very goals for which they were set up Broadly speaking then it can be said that it is well to start the day right It is always possible to begin again. Should the day begin with error Yet there are obvious advantages in terms of saving time At the beginning it is wise to think in terms of time This is by no means the ultimate criterion, but at the outset it is probably the simplest to observe The saving of time is an essential early emphasis, which although it remains important throughout the learning process becomes less and less emphasized At the outset we can safely say that time devoted to starting the day right does indeed save time How much time should be so spent? This must depend on the teacher of God himself He cannot claim that title until he has gone through the workbook since we are learning within the framework of our course After completion of the more structured practice periods, which the workbook contains Individual need becomes the chief consideration. This course is always practical It may be that the teacher of God is not in a situation that fosters quiet thought as he wakes If this is so let him but remember that he chooses to spend time with God as soon as possible and let him do so Duration is not the major concern One can easily sit still an hour with closed eyes and accomplish nothing One can as easily give God only an instant and in that instant join with him completely Perhaps the one generalization that can be made is this as soon as possible after waking take your quiet time Continuing a minute or two after you begin to find it difficult You may find that the difficulty will diminish and drop away If not, that is the time to stop The same procedures should be followed at night Perhaps your quiet time should be fairly early in the evening if it is not feasible for you to take it just before going to sleep It is not wise to lie down for it. It is better to sit up in whatever position you prefer Having gone through the workbook. You must have come to some conclusions in this respect If possible, however Just before it going to sleep is a desirable time to devote to God It sets your mind into a pattern of rest and orient you away from fear If it is expedient to spend this time earlier At least be sure that you do not forget a brief period Not more than a moment will do in which you close your eyes and think of God There is one thought in particular that should be remembered throughout the day It is a thought of pure joy a thought of peace a thought of limitless release Limitless because all things are freed within it You think you made a place of safety for yourself You think you made a power that can save you from all the fearful things you see in dreams It is not so Your safety lies not there What you give up is merely the illusion of protecting illusions And it is this you fear and only this How foolish to be so afraid of nothing Nothing at all Your defenses will not work But you are not in danger You have no need of them Recognize this and they will disappear and Only then will you accept your real protection How simply and how easily does time slip by for the teacher of God who has accepted his protection All that he did before in the name of safety no longer interest him For he is safe and knows it is so He has a guide Who will not fail He need make no distinctions among the problems he perceives For he to whom he turns with all of them recognizes no order of difficulty in resolving them He is as safe in the present as he was before illusions were accepted into his mind And as he will be when he has let them go There is no difference in his state at different times and different places Because they are all one to God This is his safety and he has no need for more than this Yet there will be temptations along the way the teacher of God has yet to travel and He has need of reminding himself throughout the day of his protection How can he do this particularly during the time when his mind is occupied with external things? He can but try and his success depends on his conviction that he will succeed He must be sure success is not of him But will be given him at any time in any place and circumstance. He calls for it There are times his certainty will waver and the instant this occurs He will return to earlier attempts to place reliance on himself alone Forget not this is magic and magic is a sorry substitute for true assistance It is not good enough for God's teacher because it is not enough for God's son The avoidance of magic is the avoidance of temptation For all temptation is nothing more than the attempt to substitute another will for God's These attempts may indeed seem frightening, but they are merely pathetic They can have no effects neither good nor bad Neither rewarding nor demanding sacrifice healing nor destructive quieting nor fearful When all magic is recognized as merely nothing the teacher of God has reached the most advanced state all intermediate lessons will but lead to this and bring this goal nearer to recognition For magic of any kind in all its forms simply does nothing Its powerlessness is the reason it can be so easily escaped What has no effects can hardly terrify There is no substitute for the will of God In simple statement it is to this fact that the teacher of God devotes his day Each substitute he may accept as real can but deceive him But he is safe from all deception if he so decides Perhaps he needs to remember God is with me. I cannot be deceived Perhaps he prefers other words or only one or none at all Yet each temptation to accept magic is true must be abandoned through his recognition Not that it is fearful Not that it is sinful Not that it is dangerous, but merely that it is meaningless Rooted in sacrifice and separation Two aspects of one error and no more He merely chooses to give up all that he never had And for this quote sacrifice is heaven restored to his awareness Is not this an exchange that you would want? The world would gladly make it if it knew it could be made It is God's teachers who must teach it that it can And so it is their function to make sure that they have learned it No risk is possible throughout the day except to put your trust in magic For it is only this that leads to pain There is no will but God's His teachers know that this is so and have learned that everything but this is magic All belief in magic is maintained by just one simple minded illusion that it works All through their training every day and every hour and every minute and second must be God's teachers To learn to recognize the forms of magic and perceive their meaninglessness Fear is withdrawn from them and so they go And thus the gate of heaven is reopened and its light can shine again on an Untroubled mind How do God's teachers deal with magic thoughts? This is a crucial question both for teacher and pupil If this issue is mishandled the teacher of God has hurt himself and has also attacked his pupil This strengthens fear and makes the magic seem quite real to both of them How to deal with magic thus becomes a major lesson for the teacher of God to master His first responsibility and this is not to attack it If a magic thought arouses anger in any form God's teacher can be sure that he is strengthening his own belief in sin And has condemned himself He can be sure as well, but he has asked for depression pain Fear and disaster to come to him Let him remember then It is not this that he would teach Because it is not this that he would learn There is however a temptation to respond to magic in a way that reinforces it Nor is this always obvious It can in fact be easily concealed beneath a wish to help It is this double wish that makes the help of little value And must lead to undesired outcomes Nor should it be forgotten that the outcome that results will always come to teacher and pupil alike How many times has it been emphasized that you give but to yourself? And where could this be better shown than in the kinds of help the teacher of God gives to those who need us aid Here is his gift most clearly given him For he will give only what he has chosen for himself And in this gift is his judgment upon the holy son of God It is easiest to let error be corrected Where it is most apparent and errors can be recognized by their results A lesson truly taught can lead to nothing but release for teacher and pupil who have shared in one intent Attack can enter only if perception of separate goals has entered And this must indeed have been the case if the result is anything but joy The single aim of the teacher turns the divided goal of the pupil in one direction With the call for help becoming his one appeal This then is easily responded to with just one answer And this answer will enter the teacher's mind unfailingly From there it shines into his pupil's mind making it one with his Perhaps it will be helpful to remember that no one can be angry at a fact It is always an interpretation that gives rise to negative emotions Regardless of their seeming justification by what appears as facts Regardless too of the intensity of the anger that is aroused It may be merely slight irritation perhaps too mild to be even clearly recognized Or it may also take the form of intense rage Accompanied by thoughts of violence fantasy or apparently acted out It does not matter All of these reactions are the same They obscure the truth and this can never be a matter of degree Either truth is apparent or it is not It cannot be partially recognized Who is unaware of truth must look upon illusions Anger in response to perceived magic thoughts is a basic cause of fear Consider what this reaction means and its centrality to the world's thought system becomes apparent A magic thought by its mere presence acknowledges a separation from God It states in the clearest form possible that the mind which believes it has a separate will That can oppose the will of God also believes it can succeed That this can hardly be a fact is obvious Yet that it can be believed as a fact is equally obvious And herein lies the birthplace of guilt Who usurps the place of God and takes it for himself now has a deadly quote enemy And he must stand alone in his protection and make himself a shield to keep him safe from fury That can never be abated and vengeance that can never be satisfied How can this unfair battle be resolved? Its ending is inevitable for its outcome must be death How then can one believe in one's defenses? Magic again must help Forget the battle Accept it as a fact and then forget it Do not remember the impossible odds against you Do not remember the immensity of the quote enemy And do not think about your frailty in comparison Accept your separation but do not remember how it came about Believe that you have won it but do not retain the slightest memory of who your great quote opponent really is Projecting your quote forgetting onto him. It seems to you he has forgotten too But what will now be your reaction to all magic thoughts? They can but reawaken sleeping guilt which you have hidden but have not let go Each one says clearly to your frightened mind you have usurped the place of God Think not that he has forgotten Here we have the fear of God most starkly represented For in that thought has guilt already raised madness to the throne of God himself And now there is no hope except to kill Here is salvation now an angry father pursues his guilty son Kill or be killed for here alone is choice Beyond this there is none for what was done cannot be done without The stain of blood can never be removed and anyone who bears sustain on him must meet with death Into this hopeless situation God sends his teachers They bring the light of hope from God himself There is a way in which escape is possible It can be learned and taught but it requires patience and abundant willingness Given that the lessons manifest simplicity stands out like an intense white light against a black horizon For such it is If anger comes from an interpretation and not a fact it is never justified Once this is even dimly give grasp the way is open Now it is possible to take the next step The interpretation can be changed at last Magic thoughts need not lead to condemnation for they do not really have the power to give rise to guilt And so they can be overlooked and thus forgotten in the truest sense Madness but seems terrible In truth it has no power to make anything Like the magic which becomes its servant it neither attacks nor protects To see it and to recognize its thought system is to look on nothing Can nothing give rise to anger Hardly so Remember then teacher of God that anger recognizes a reality that is not there Yet is the anger certain witness that you need to do do believe in it as a fact Now is escape impossible until you see you have responded to your own interpretation Which you have projected on an outside world Let this grim sword be taken from you now There is no death This sword does not exist The fear of God is causeless But his love is the cause of everything Beyond all fear and thus forever real And always true How is correction made Correction of a lasting nature and only this is true correction Cannot be made until the teacher of God has ceased to confuse interpretation with fact Or illusion with truth If he argues with his pupil about a magic thought a taxid tries to establish its error or demonstrate its falsity He is but witnessing to its reality Depression is then inevitable For he has quote proved both to his pupil and himself that it is their task to escape from what is real And this can only be impossible Reality is changeless Magic thoughts are but illusions Otherwise salvation would be only the same old Impossible dream in but another form Yet the dream of salvation has new content It is not the form alone in which the difference lies God's teacher's major lesson is to learn how to react to magic thoughts wholly without anger Only in this way can they proclaim the truth about themselves Through them the Holy Spirit can now speak of the reality of the Son of God Now he can remind the world of sinlessness The one unchanged unchangeable condition of all that God created Now he can speak the word of God to listening ears and bring Christ's vision to eyes that see Now is he free to teach all minds the truth of what they are So they will gladly be returned to him And now his guilt forgiven Overlooked completely in his sight and in God's word Anger but screeches guilt is real Reality is blotted out as this insane belief has taken his replacement for God's word The body's eyes now quote see its ears alone can quote hear Its little space and tiny breath become the measure of reality And truth becomes diminutive and meaningless Correction has one answer to all this and to the world that rests on this You but mistake interpretation for the truth and you are wrong But a mistake is not a sin nor has Reality been taken from its throne by your mistakes God reigns forever and his laws alone prevail upon you and upon the world His love remains the only thing there is Fear is illusion For you are like him In order to heal it's thus becomes essential for the teacher of God to let all his own mistakes be corrected If he senses even the faintest hint of irritation in himself as he responds to anyone Let him instantly realize that he has made an interpretation that is not true Then let him turn within to his internal guide and let him judge what the response should be So is he healed and in his healing is his pupil healed with him The sole responsibility of the teacher of God is to accept the atonement for himself Atonement means correction or the undoing of errors When this has been accomplished the teacher of God becomes a miracle worker by definition His sins have been forgiven him and he no longer condemns himself How can he then condemn anyone and who is there whom his forgiveness can fail to heal?