Lesson 23

W-pI.23.1. The idea for today contains the only way out of fear that will ever succeed. ² Nothing else will work; everything else is meaningless. ³ But this way cannot fail. ⁴ Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see. ⁵ It is with your thoughts, then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed.

W-pI.23.2. If the cause of the world you see is attack thoughts, you must learn that it is these thoughts which you do not want. ² There is no point in lamenting the world. ³ There is no point in trying to change the world. ⁴ It is incapable of change because it is merely an effect. ⁵ But there is indeed a point in changing your thoughts about the world. ⁶ Here you are changing the cause. ⁷ The effect will change automatically.

W-pI.23.3. The world you see is a vengeful world, and everything in it is a symbol of vengeance. ² Each of your perceptions of "external reality" is a pictorial representation of your own attack thoughts. ³ One can well ask if this can be called seeing. ⁴ Is not fantasy a better word for such a process, and hallucination a more appropriate term for the result?

W-pI.23.4. You see the world that you have made, but you do not see yourself as the image maker. ² You cannot be saved from the world, but you can escape from its cause. ³ This is what salvation means, for where is the world you see when its cause is gone? ⁴ Vision already holds a replacement for everything you think you see now. ⁵ Loveliness can light your images, and so transform them that you will love them, even though they were made of hate. ⁶ For you will not be making them alone.

W-pI.23.5. The idea for today introduces the thought that you are not trapped in the world you see, because its cause can be changed. ² This change requires, first, that the cause be identified and then let go, so that it can be replaced. ³ The first two steps in this process require your cooperation. ⁴ The final one does not. ⁵ Your images have already been replaced. ⁶ By taking the first two steps, you will see that this is so.

W-pI.23.6. Besides using it throughout the day as the need arises, five practice periods are required in applying today's idea. ² 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. ³ As each one crosses your mind say:

⁵ Hold each attack thought in mind as you say this, and then dismiss that thought and go on to the next.

W-pI.23.7. In the practice periods, be sure to include both your thoughts of attacking and of being attacked. ² Their effects are exactly the same because they are exactly the same. ³ You do not recognize this as yet, and you are asked at this time only to treat them as the same in today's practice periods. ⁴ We are still at the stage of identifying the cause of the world you see. ⁵ When you finally learn that thoughts of attack and of being attacked are not different, you will be ready to let the cause go.