This is the thought which follows from the one we practiced yesterday. You
cannot stop with the idea the world is worthless, for unless you see that there
is something else to hope for you will only be depressed. Our emphasis is not on
giving up the world, but on exchanging it for what is far more satisfying,
filled with joy, and capable of offering you peace. Think you this world can
offer that to you?
It might be worth a little time to think once more about the value of this
world. Perhaps you will concede there is no loss in letting go all thought of
value here. The world you see is merciless indeed, unstable, cruel, unconcerned
with you, quick to avenge and pitiless with hate. It gives but to rescind, and
takes away all things that you have cherished for a while. No lasting love is found, for none is here. This is the world of time, where all things end.
Is it a loss to find a world instead where losing is impossible, where love
endures forever, hate cannot exist, and vengeance has no meaning? Is it loss to
find all things you really want and know they have no ending, and they will
remain exactly as you want them throughout time?
Yet even they will be exchanged at last for what we cannot speak of, for you go
from there to where words fail entirely, into a silence where the language is
unspoken and yet surely understood. Communication, unambiguous and plain as day,
remains unlimited for all eternity. And God Himself speaks to His Son as His Son
speaks to Him. Their language has no words, for what they say cannot be
symbolized. Their knowledge is direct and wholly shared and wholly one.
How far away from this are you who stay bound to this world. And yet how near
are you when you exchange it for the world you want. Now is the last step
certain; now you stand an instant's space away from timelessness. Here can you
but look forward, never back to see again the world you do not want. Here is the
world that comes to take its place as you unbind your mind from little things
the world sets forth to keep you prisoner there. Value them not, and they will
disappear. Esteem them, and they will seem real to you.
Such is the choice. What loss can be
for you in choosing not to value nothingness? This world holds nothing that you
really want, but what you choose instead you want indeed! Let it be given you
today. It waits but for your choosing it to take the place of all the things you
seek but do not want.
Practice your willingness to make this change ten minutes in the morning and at
night, and once more in between. Begin with this:
"Beyond this world there is a world I want. I choose to see that world instead of this, For here is nothing that I really want."
Then close your eyes upon the world you
see, and in the silent darkness watch the lights that are not of this world
light one by one until where one begins, another ends, loses all meaning as they
blend in one.
Today the lights of Heaven bend to you, to shine upon your eyelids as you rest
beyond the world of darkness. Here is light your eyes cannot behold. And yet
your mind can see it plainly, and can understand. A day of grace is given you
today, and we give thanks. This day we realize that what you feared to lose was
only loss.
Now do we understand there is no loss, for we have seen its opposite at last,
and we are grateful that the choice is made. Remember your decision hourly, and
take a moment to confirm your choice by laying by whatever thoughts you have,
and dwelling briefly only upon this:
"The world I see has nothing that I want. Beyond this world there is a world I want."
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