Lesson 191
I am the holy Son of God Himself.
W-pI.191.1. Here is your declaration of release from bondage of the world. 2 And here as well is all the world released. 3 You do not see what you have done by giving to the world the role of jailer to the Son of God. 4 What could it be but vicious and afraid, fearful of shadows, punitive and wild, lacking all reason, blind, insane with hate?
W-pI.191.2. What have you done that this should be your world? 2 What have you done that this is what you see? 3 Deny your own Identity, and this is what remains. 4 You look on chaos and proclaim it is yourself. 5 There is no sight that fails to witness this to you. 6 There is no sound that does not speak of frailty within you and without; no breath you draw that does not seem to bring you nearer death; no hope you hold but will dissolve in tears.
W-pI.191.3. Deny your own Identity, and you will not escape the madness which induced this weird, unnatural and ghostly thought that mocks creation and that laughs at God. 2 Deny your own Identity, and you assail the universe alone, without a friend, a tiny particle of dust against the legions of your enemies. 3 Deny your own Identity, and look on evil, sin and death, and watch despair snatch from your fingers every scrap of hope, leaving you nothing but the wish to die.
W-pI.191.4. Yet what is it except a game you play in which Identity can be denied? 2 You are as God created you. 3 All else but this one thing is folly to believe. 4 In this one thought is everyone set free. 5 In this one truth are all illusions gone. 6 In this one fact is sinlessness proclaimed to be forever part of everything, the central core of its existence and its guarantee of immortality.
W-pI.191.5. But let today's idea find a place among your thoughts and you have risen far above the world, and all the worldly thoughts that hold it prisoner. 2 And from this place of safety and escape you will return and set it free. 3 For he who can accept his true Identity is truly saved. 4 And his salvation is the gift he gives to everyone, in gratitude to Him Who pointed out the way to happiness that changed his whole perspective of the world.
W-pI.191.6. One holy thought like this and you are free: You are the holy Son of God Himself. 2 And with this holy thought you learn as well that you have freed the world. 3 You have no need to use it cruelly, and then perceive this savage need in it. 4 You set it free of your imprisonment. 5 You will not see a devastating image of yourself walking the world in terror, with the world twisting in agony because your fears have laid the mark of death upon its heart.
W-pI.191.7. Be glad today how very easily is hell undone. 2 You need but tell yourself:
5 And in that thought is everything you look on wholly changed.
W-pI.191.8. A miracle has lighted up all dark and ancient caverns, where the rites of death echoed since time began. 2 For time has lost its hold upon the world. 3 The Son of God has come in glory to redeem the lost, to save the helpless, and to give the world the gift of his forgiveness. 4 Who could see the world as dark and sinful, when God's Son has come again at last to set it free?
W-pI.191.9. You who perceive yourself as weak and frail, with futile hopes and devastated dreams, born but to die, to weep and suffer pain, hear this: All power is given unto you in earth and Heaven. 2 There is nothing that you cannot do. 3 You play the game of death, of being helpless, pitifully tied to dissolution in a world which shows no mercy to you. 4 Yet when you accord it mercy, will its mercy shine on you.
W-pI.191.10. Then let the Son of God awaken from his sleep, and opening his holy eyes, return again to bless the world he made. 2 In error it began, but it will end in the reflection of his holiness. 3 And he will sleep no more and dream of death. 4 Then join with me today. 5 Your glory is the light that saves the world. 6 Do not withhold salvation longer. 7 Look about the world, and see the suffering there. 8 Is not your heart willing to bring your weary brothers rest?
W-pI.191.11. They must await your own release. 2 They stay in chains till you are free. 3 They cannot see the mercy of the world until you find it in yourself. 4 They suffer pain until you have denied its hold on you. 5 They die till you accept your own eternal life. 6 You are the holy Son of God Himself. 7 Remember this, and all the world is free. 8 Remember this, and earth and Heaven are one.
