VII. The Dreamer of the Dream

T-27.VII.1. Suffering is an emphasis upon all that the world has done to injure you. ² Here is the world's demented version of salvation clearly shown. ³ Like to a dream of punishment, in which the dreamer is unconscious of what brought on the attack against himself, he sees himself attacked unjustly and by something not himself. ⁴ He is the victim of this "something else," a thing outside himself, for which he has no reason to be held responsible. ⁵ He must be innocent because he knows not what he does, but what is done to him. ⁶ Yet is his own attack upon himself apparent still, for it is he who bears the suffering. ⁷ And he cannot escape because its source is seen outside himself.

T-27.VII.2. Now you are being shown you can escape. ² All that is needed is you look upon the problem as it is, and not the way that you have set it up. ³ How could there be another way to solve a problem that is very simple, but has been obscured by heavy clouds of complication, which were made to keep the problem unresolved? ⁴ Without the clouds the problem will emerge in all its primitive simplicity. ⁵ The choice will not be difficult, because the problem is absurd when clearly seen. ⁶ No one has difficulty making up his mind to let a simple problem be resolved if it is seen as hurting him, and also very easily removed.

T-27.VII.3. The "reasoning" by which the world is made, on which it rests, by which it is maintained, is simply this: " You are the cause of what I do. ² Your presence justifies my wrath, and you exist and think apart from me. ³ While you attack I must be innocent. ⁴ And what I suffer from is your attack." ⁵ No one who looks upon this "reasoning" exactly as it is could fail to see it does not follow and it makes no sense. ⁶ Yet it seems sensible, because it looks as if the world were hurting you. ⁷ And so it seems as if there is no need to go beyond the obvious in terms of cause.

T-27.VII.4. There is indeed a need. ² The world's escape from condemnation is a need which those within the world are joined in sharing. ³ Yet they do not recognize their common need. ⁴ For each one thinks that if he does his part, the condemnation of the world will rest on him. ⁵ And it is this that he perceives to be his part in its deliverance. ⁶ Vengeance must have a focus. ⁷ Otherwise is the avenger's knife in his own hand, and pointed to himself. ⁸ And he must see it in another's hand, if he would be a victim of attack he did not choose. ⁹ And thus he suffers from the wounds a knife he does not hold has made upon himself.

T-27.VII.5. This is the purpose of the world he sees. ² And looked at thus, the world provides the means by which this purpose seems to be fulfilled. ³ The means attest the purpose, but are not themselves a cause. ⁴ Nor will the cause be changed by seeing it apart from its effects. ⁵ The cause produces the effects, which then bear witness to the cause, and not themselves. ⁶ Look, then, beyond effects. ⁷ It is not here the cause of suffering and sin must lie. ⁸ And dwell not on the suffering and sin, for they are but reflections of their cause.

T-27.VII.6. The part you play in salvaging the world from condemnation is your own escape. ² Forget not that the witness to the world of evil cannot speak except for what has seen a need for evil in the world. ³ And this is where your guilt was first beheld. ⁴ In separation from your brother was the first attack upon yourself begun. ⁵ And it is this the world bears witness to. ⁶ Seek not another cause, nor look among the mighty legions of its witnesses for its undoing. ⁷ They support its claim on your allegiance. ⁸ What conceals the truth is not where you should look to find the truth.

T-27.VII.7. The witnesses to sin all stand within one little space. ² And it is here you find the cause of your perspective on the world. ³ Once you were unaware of what the cause of everything the world appeared to thrust upon you, uninvited and unasked, must really be. ⁴ Of one thing you were sure: Of all the many causes you perceived as bringing pain and suffering to you, your guilt was not among them. ⁵ Nor did you in any way request them for yourself. ⁶ This is how all illusions came about. ⁷ The one who makes them does not see himself as making them, and their reality does not depend on him. ⁸ Whatever cause they have is something quite apart from him, and what he sees is separate from his mind. ⁹ He cannot doubt his dreams' reality, because he does not see the part he plays in making them and making them seem real.

T-27.VII.8. No one can waken from a dream the world is dreaming for him. ² He becomes a part of someone else's dream. ³ He cannot choose to waken from a dream he did not make. ⁴ Helpless he stands, a victim to a dream conceived and cherished by a separate mind. ⁵ Careless indeed of him this mind must be, as thoughtless of his peace and happiness as is the weather or the time of day. ⁶ It loves him not, but casts him as it will in any role that satisfies its dream. ⁷ So little is his worth that he is but a dancing shadow, leaping up and down according to a senseless plot conceived within the idle dreaming of the world.

T-27.VII.9. This is the only picture you can see; the one alternative that you can choose, the other possibility of cause, if you be not the dreamer of your dreams. ² And this is what you choose if you deny the cause of suffering is in your mind. ³ Be glad indeed it is, for thus are you the one decider of your destiny in time. ⁴ The choice is yours to make between a sleeping death and dreams of evil or a happy wakening and joy of life.

T-27.VII.10. What could you choose between but life or death, waking or sleeping, peace or war, your dreams or your reality? ² There is a risk of thinking death is peace, because the world equates the body with the Self which God created. ³ Yet a thing can never be its opposite. ⁴ And death is opposite to peace, because it is the opposite of life. ⁵ And life is peace. ⁶ Awaken and forget all thoughts of death, and you will find you have the peace of God. ⁷ Yet if the choice is really given you, then you must see the causes of the things you choose between exactly as they are and where they are.

T-27.VII.11. What choices can be made between two states, but one of which is clearly recognized? ² Who could be free to choose between effects, when only one is seen as up to him? ³ An honest choice could never be perceived as one in which the choice is split between a tiny you and an enormous world, with different dreams about the truth in you. ⁴ The gap between reality and dreams lies not between the dreaming of the world and what you dream in secret. ⁵ They are one. ⁶ The dreaming of the world is but a part of your own dream you gave away, and saw as if it were its start and ending, both. ⁷ Yet was it started by your secret dream, which you do not perceive although it caused the part you see and do not doubt is real. ⁸ How could you doubt it while you lie asleep, and dream in secret that its cause is real?

T-27.VII.12. A brother separated from yourself, an ancient enemy, a murderer who stalks you in the night and plots your death, yet plans that it be lingering and slow; of this you dream. ² Yet underneath this dream is yet another, in which you become the murderer, the secret enemy, the scavenger and the destroyer of your brother and the world alike. ³ Here is the cause of suffering, the space between your little dreams and your reality. ⁴ The little gap you do not even see, the birthplace of illusions and of fear, the time of terror and of ancient hate, the instant of disaster, all are here. ⁵ Here is the cause of unreality. ⁶ And it is here that it will be undone.

T-27.VII.13. You are the dreamer of the world of dreams. ² No other cause it has, nor ever will. ³ Nothing more fearful than an idle dream has terrified God's Son, and made him think that he has lost his innocence, denied his Father, and made war upon himself. ⁴ So fearful is the dream, so seeming real, he could not waken to reality without the sweat of terror and a scream of mortal fear, unless a gentler dream preceded his awaking, and allowed his calmer mind to welcome, not to fear, the Voice that calls with love to waken him; a gentler dream, in which his suffering was healed and where his brother was his friend. ⁵ God willed he waken gently and with joy, and gave him means to waken without fear.

T-27.VII.14. Accept the dream He gave instead of yours. ² It is not difficult to change a dream when once the dreamer has been recognized. ³ Rest in the Holy Spirit, and allow His gentle dreams to take the place of those you dreamed in terror and in fear of death. ⁴ He brings forgiving dreams, in which the choice is not who is the murderer and who shall be the victim. ⁵ In the dreams He brings there is no murder and there is no death. ⁶ The dream of guilt is fading from your sight, although your eyes are closed. ⁷ A smile has come to lighten up your sleeping face. ⁸ The sleep is peaceful now, for these are happy dreams.

T-27.VII.15. Dream softly of your sinless brother, who unites with you in holy innocence. ² And from this dream the Lord of Heaven will Himself awaken His beloved Son. ³ Dream of your brother's kindnesses instead of dwelling in your dreams on his mistakes. ⁴ Select his thoughtfulness to dream about instead of counting up the hurts he gave. ⁵ Forgive him his illusions, and give thanks to him for all the helpfulness he gave. ⁶ And do not brush aside his many gifts because he is not perfect in your dreams. ⁷ He represents his Father, Whom you see as offering both life and death to you.

T-27.VII.16. Brother, He gives but life. ² Yet what you see as gifts your brother offers represent the gifts you dream your Father gives to you. ³ Let all your brother's gifts be seen in light of charity and kindness offered you. ⁴ And let no pain disturb your dream of deep appreciation for his gifts to you.