LESSON TWENTY-SIX

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: The Course text is in bold face. The Guidance is in normal type In His Guidance, He has asked Me to capitalize the pronouns You and We as an acknowledgement of the Divinity of All of Us, an acknowledgement of Equality, an expression of His Love and respect for You. When You see the word ‘YOU’ capitalized in the Guidance, know that He is not just speaking to YOU, He is honoring YOU.

My attack thoughts are attacking my invulnerability.

Which are their only purpose, to keep You locked within the dream of a false perception of Yourself, and a prisoner forever in a cell of Your own making.

You are like the infant Prince, kidnapped by the gypsies, twenty years gone by when they return to the castle town.  You are instantly recognized by the Grand Vizir who runs up to You insisting that You are the long-lost Prince.

Happy as a gypsy, You protest, saying: “No, I’m not, look at Me! I am dressed like a gypsy, act like a gypsy, and I do think gypsy thoughts.  And I’m very happy as a gypsy.  As life goes, it’s fun!”

“That may be, thinking that You’re ‘only human.’” responds the Grand Vizir.  “Nonetheless You are the Prince.  See Your perfect likeness to the King!”

Slowly – oh so very slowly – does the realization dawn on You that You are much more than ‘human’, run by the ego .

How long must We – the Father, I, and the Holy Spirit – remind You of Your Indivisibility with God?  What payoff do You get for Your denial, other than more misery and painful vulnerability and the ability to stay insane?

Why would You choose pian?  Is fear appealing?

¹ It is surely obvious that if you can be attacked, you are not invulnerable. You see attack as a real threat. That is because you believe that you can really attack.

– Is aggression fun? –

And what would have effects through you must also have effects on you.

– What You do unto Others, You receive. –

It is this law that will ultimately save you. But you are misusing it now. You must therefore learn how it can be used for your own best interests rather than against them.

On this holy basis stands what has been called My Golden Rule.  It rests upon perfect simplicity, so a child can clearly understand it: “As You would be done to, do to Others.”

Would You not rather Love Your Brother and feel His Love returned to You, a perfect game of catch, with Your Love the perfect match.

Most of You look frantically for Someone to Love You too.  Yet from a broken shell You notice on the beach comes a stream of Love like to the ocean!  And yet You feel it not, defended against Your vulnerability.  Yet it is not aggression that You really fear, but Love instead.

You can’t avoid it!  Love is everywhere, just like Our Father!  If You would but lay down Your defenses, You would clearly feel It, Be-ing Your Be-ing.  How like the Father are You beautiful.

Why don’t You see It?

² Because your attack thoughts will be projected, you will fear attack. And if you fear attack, you must believe that you are not invulnerable. Attack thoughts therefore make you vulnerable in your own mind, which is where the attack thoughts are. Attack thoughts and invulnerability cannot be accepted together. They contradict each other.

³ The idea for today introduces the thought that you always attack yourself. If attack thoughts must entail the belief that you are vulnerable, their effect is to weaken you in your own eyes. Thus they have attacked your perception of yourself. And because you believe in them, you can no longer believe in yourself.

– Divine Self of God that You really are. –

A false image of yourself has come to take the place of what you are.

⁴ Practice with today’s idea will help you to understand that vulnerability or invulnerability is the result of your own thoughts. Nothing except your thoughts can attack you. Nothing except your thoughts can make you think you are vulnerable. And nothing except your thoughts can prove to you this is not so.

⁵ Six practice periods are required in applying today’s idea. A full two minutes should be attempted for each of them, although the time may be reduced to a minute if the discomfort is too great. Do not reduce it further.

⁶ The practice period should begin with repeating the idea for today, then closing your eyes and reviewing the unresolved situations whose outcomes are causing you concern. The concern may take the form of depression, worry, anger, a sense of imposition, fear, foreboding, or preoccupation. Any problem as yet unsettled which tends to recur in your thoughts during the day is a suitable subject. You will not be able to use very many for any one practice period, because a longer time than usual should be spent with each one. Today’s idea should be applied as follows:

⁷ First, name the situation:

⁸ I am concerned about ______.

⁹ Then go over every possible outcome which has occurred to you in that connection and which has caused you concern, referring to each one quite specifically, saying:

¹⁰ I am afraid ______ will happen.

¹¹ If you are doing the exercises properly, you should have some five or six distressing possibilities available for each situation you use and quite possibly more. It is much more helpful to cover a few situations thoroughly than to touch on a larger number.

¹² As the list of anticipated outcomes for each situation continues, you will probably find some of them, especially those which occur to you toward the end, less acceptable to you. Try, however, to treat them all alike to whatever extent you can.

¹³ After you have named each outcome of which you are afraid, tell yourself:

¹⁴ That thought is an attack upon myself.

¹⁵ Conclude each practice period by repeating today’s idea once more.

And realize that I am ever with You.  Feel My Love for You.