Library of Christ Mind Teachings
ACIM Original Edition
Hang on a sec…
1 Why wait for Heaven? Those who seek the light are merely
covering their eyes. The light is in them now. Enlightenment is but a
recognition, not a change at all. Light is not of the world, yet you who
bear the light in you are alien here as well. The light came with you
from your native home and stayed with you because it is your own. It is
the only thing you bring with you from Him Who is your Source. It shines
in you because it lights your home and leads you back to where it came
from and you are at home.
2 This light cannot be lost. Why wait to find it in the
future or believe it has been lost already or was never there? It can so
easily be looked upon that arguments which prove it is not there become
ridiculous. Who can deny the presence of what he beholds in him? It is
not difficult to look within, for there all vision starts. There is no
sight, be it of dreams or from a truer source, that is not but the
shadow of the seen through inward vision. There perception starts, and
there it ends. It has no source but this.
3 The peace of God is shining in you now and from your heart
extends around the world. It pauses to caress each living thing and
leave a blessing with it which remains forever and forever. What it
gives must be eternal. It removes all thoughts of the ephemeral and
valueless. It brings renewal to all tired hearts and lights all vision
as it passes by. All of its gifts are given everyone, and everyone
unites in giving thanks to you who give and you who have received.
4 The shining in your mind reminds the world of what it has
forgotten, and the world restores the memory to you as well. From you
salvation radiates with gifts beyond all measure, given and returned. To
you, the giver of the gift, does God Himself give thanks. And in His
blessing does the light in you shine brighter, adding to the gifts you
have to offer to the world.
5 The peace of God can never be contained. Who recognizes it
within himself must give it. And the means for giving it are in his
understanding. He forgives because he recognized the truth in him. The
peace of God is shining in you now and in all living things. In
quietness is it acknowledged universally. For what your inward vision
looks upon is your perception of the universe.
6 Sit quietly and close your eyes. The light within you is
sufficient. It alone has power to give the gift of sight to you. Exclude
the outer world and let your thoughts fly to the peace within. They know
the way. For honest thoughts, untainted by the dream of worldly things
outside yourself, become the holy messengers of God Himself. These
thoughts you think with Him. They recognize their home. And they point
surely to their Source where God the Father and the Son are one.
7 God’s peace is shining on them, but they must remain with
you as well, for they were born within your mind as yours was born in
God’s. They lead you back to peace from where they came but to remind
you how you must return. They heed your Father’s Voice when you refuse
to listen. And they urge you gently to accept His Word for what you are
instead of fantasies and shadows. They remind you that you are the
co-creator of all things that live. For as the peace of God is shining
in you, it must shine on them.
8 We practice coming nearer to the light in us today. We take
our wandering thoughts and gently bring them back to where they fall in
line with all the thoughts we share with God. We will not let them
stray. We let the light within our minds direct them to come home. We
have betrayed them, ordering that they depart from us. But now we call
them back and wash them clean of strange desires and disordered wishes.
We restore to them the holiness of their inheritance.
9 Thus are our minds restored with them, and we acknowledge
that the peace of God still shines in us and from us to all living
things that share our life. We will forgive them all, absolving all the
world of what we thought it did to us. For it is we who make the world
as we would have it. Now we choose that it be innocent, devoid of sin,
and open to salvation. And we lay our saving blessing on it as we say:
10 The peace of God is shining in me now.
Let all things shine upon me in that peace,
And let me bless them with the light in me.