 We continue on today with chapter 6. The Lessons of the Holy Spirit Like any good teacher, the Holy Spirit knows more than you do now, but he teaches only to make you equal with him. You had already taught yourself wrongly, having believed what was not true. You did not believe in your own perfection. Would God teach you that you had made a split mind when he knows your mind only as whole? What God knows is that his communication channels are not open to him so that he cannot impart his joy and know that his children are holy joyous. Giving his joy is an ongoing process, not in time but in eternity. God's extending outward, though not his completeness, is blocked when the sonship does not communicate with him as one. So he thought, my children sleep and must be awakened. How can you wake children in a more kindly way than by a gentle voice that will not frighten them but will merely remind them that the night is over and the light has come? You do not inform them that the nightmares that frighten them so badly are not real because children believe in magic. You merely reassure them that they are safe now. Then you train them to recognize the difference between sleeping and waking so they will understand they need not be afraid of dreams. And so when bad dreams come, they will themselves call on the light to dispel them. A wise teacher teaches through approach, not avoidance. He does not emphasize what you must avoid to escape from harm but what you need to learn to have joy. Consider the fear and confusion a child would experience if he were told, do not do this because it will hurt you and make you unsafe. But if you do that instead, you will escape from harm and be safe and then you will be not afraid. It is surely better to use only three words, do only that. This simple statement is perfectly clear, easily understood and very easily remembered. The Holy Spirit never itemizes errors because he does not frighten children and those who lack wisdom are children. Yet he always answers their call and his dependability makes them more certain. Children do confuse fantasy and reality and they are frightened because they do not recognize the difference. The Holy Spirit makes no distinction among dreams. He merely shines them away. His light is always the call to awaken whatever you have been dreaming. Nothing lasting lies in dreams and the Holy Spirit shining with the light from God himself speaks only for what lasts, forever. From the workbook, Lesson 41. God goes with me wherever I go. Today's idea will eventually overcome completely the sense of loneliness and abandonment all the separated ones experience. Depression is an inevitable consequence of separation. So are anxiety, worry, a deep sense of helplessness, misery, suffering, and intense fear of loss. The separated ones have invented many, quote, cures for what they believe to be, quote, the ills of the world. But the one thing they do not do is to question the reality of the problem. Yet its effects cannot be cured because the problem is not real. The idea for today has the power to end all this foolishness forever and foolishness it is despite the serious and tragic forms it may take. Deep within you is everything that is perfect ready to radiate through you and out into the world. It will cure all sorrow and pain and fear and loss because it will heal the mind that thought these things were real and suffered out of its allegiance to them. You can never be deprived of your perfect holiness because its source goes with you wherever you go. You can never suffer because the source of all joy goes with you wherever you go. You can never be alone because the source of all life goes with you wherever you go. Nothing can destroy your peace of mind because God goes with you wherever you go. I understand that you do not believe all this. How could you when the truth is hidden deep within under a heavy cloud of insane thoughts, dense and obscuring, yet representing all you see? Today we will make our first real attempt to get past this dark and heavy cloud and to go through it to the light beyond. There will be only one long practice period today. In the morning, as soon as you get up if possible, sit quietly for some three to five minutes with your eyes closed. At the beginning of the practice period, repeat today's idea very slowly. God goes with me wherever I go. Then make no effort to think of anything. Try instead to get a sense of turning inward past all the idle thoughts of the world. Try to enter very deeply into your own mind, keeping it clear of any thoughts that might divert your attention. From time to time you may repeat the idea if you find it helpful. First of all, try to sink down and inward away from the world and all the foolish thoughts of the world. You are trying to reach past all these things. You are trying to leave appearances and approach reality. It is quite possible to reach God. In fact, it is very easy because it is the most natural thing in the world. You might even say it is the only natural thing in the world. The way will open if you believe that it is possible. This exercise can bring very startling results even the first time it is attempted. And sooner or later it is always successful. We will go into more detail about this kind of practice as we go along. But it will never fail completely and instant success is possible. Throughout the day use today's idea often, repeating it very slowly, preferably with eyes closed. Think of what you are saying, what the words mean. Concentrate on the holiness that they imply about you, on the unfailing companionship that is yours, on the complete protection that surrounds you. You can indeed afford to laugh at fear thoughts, remembering that God goes with you wherever you go. So beautifully we are introduced to the lessons of the Holy Spirit in the text. Lessons of perfection, of wholeness, of innocence. And what a beautiful way to proceed our deep sinking inward today with eyes closed. We are our introduction to deep meditation prayer, knowing that God wants to extend joy to us every moment. And that we can sink down in our mind beneath all the foolish thoughts that cross our consciousness. We are safe now, we are guided, God is our eternal companion. So today, right now, we try not to think of anything at all and just to sink deep inward. And we start with our lesson, God goes with me wherever I go. God goes with me to sink deep, deeper.