Library of Christ Mind Teachings
ACIM Original Edition
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1 Here is your declaration of release from bondage of the
world. And here as well is all the world released. You do not see what
you have done by giving to the world the role of jailer to the Son of
God. What could it be but vicious and afraid, fearful of shadows,
punitive and wild, lacking all reason, blind, insane, and sad?
2 What have you done that this should be your world? What
have you done that this is what you see? Deny your own Identity, and
this is what remains. You look on chaos and proclaim it as yourself.
There is no sight that fails to witness this to you. There is no sound
that does not speak of frailty within you and without, no breath you
draw that does not seem to bring you nearer death, no hope you hold but
will dissolve in tears.
3 Deny your own Identity, and you will not escape the madness
which induced this weird, unnatural, and ghostly thought which mocks
creation and which laughs at God. Deny your own Identity, and you assail
the universe alone, without a friend, a tiny particle of dust against
the legions of your enemies. Deny your own Identity and look on evil,
sin, and death. And watch despair snatch from your fingers every scrap
of hope, leaving you nothing but the wish to die.
4 Yet what is it except a game you play in which identity can
be denied? You are as God created you. All else but this one thing is
folly to believe. In this one thought is everything set free. In this
one truth are all illusions gone. In this one fact is sinlessness
proclaimed to be forever part of everything, the central core of its
existence, and its guarantee of immortality.
5 But let today’s idea find a place among your thoughts, and
you have risen far above the world and all the worldly thoughts that
hold it prisoner. And from this place of safety and escape, you will
return and set it free. For he who can accept his true Identity is truly
saved. And his salvation is the gift he gives to everyone in gratitude
to Him Who pointed out the way to happiness that changed his whole
perception of the world.
6 One holy thought like this, and you are free: you are the
holy Son of God Himself. And with this holy thought, you learn as well
that you have freed the world. You have no need to use it cruelly and
then perceive this savage need in it. You set it free of your
imprisonment. You will not see a devastating image of yourself walking
the world in terror with the world twisting in agony because your fears
have laid the mark of death upon its heart.
7 Be glad today how very easily is hell undone. You need but
tell yourself:
8 I am the holy Son of God Himself.
I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain;
I cannot lose, nor can I fail to do
All that salvation asks.
9 And in that thought is everything you look on wholly
changed.
10 A miracle has lighted up all dark and ancient caverns
where the rites of death echoed since time began. For time has lost its
hold upon the world. The Son of God has come in glory to redeem the
lost, to save the helpless, and to give the world the gift of his
forgiveness. Who could see the world as dark and sinful when God’s Son
has come again at last to set it free?
11 You who perceive yourself as weak and frail, with futile
hopes and devastated dreams, born but to die, to weep, and suffer pain,
hear this: all power is given you in earth and Heaven. There is nothing
that you cannot do. You play the game of death, of being helpless,
pitifully tied to dissolution in a world which shows no mercy to you.
Yet when you accord it mercy will its mercy shine on you.
12 Then let the Son of God awaken from his sleep, and opening
his holy eyes return again to bless the world he made. In error it
began. But it will end in the reflection of his holiness. And we will
sleep no more and dream of death. Then join with me today. Your glory is
the light that saves the world. Do not withhold salvation longer. Look
about the world, and see the suffering there. Is not your heart willing
to bring your weary brothers rest?
13 They must await your own release. They stay in chains till
you are free. They cannot see the mercy of the world until you find it
for yourself. They suffer pain until you have denied its hold on you.
They die till you accept your own eternal life. You are the holy Son of
God Himself. Remember this and all the world is free. Remember this and
earth and Heaven are one.