LESSON 93 Light and joy and peace abide in me.

1. 1You think you are the home of evil, darkness and sin. 2You think if anyone could see the truth about you he would be re­pelled, recoiling from you as if from a poisonous snake. 3You think if what is true about you were revealed to you, you would be struck with horror so intense that you would rush to death by your own hand, living on after seeing this being impossible.

2. 1These are beliefs so firmly fixed that it is difficult to help you see that they are based on nothing. 2That you have made mistakes is obvious. 3That you have sought salvation in strange ways; have been deceived, deceiving and afraid of foolish fantasies and savage dreams; and have bowed down to idols made of dust,—all this is true by what you now believe.

3. 1Today we question this, not from the point of view of what you think, but from a very different reference point, from which such idle thoughts are meaningless. 2These thoughts are not according to God’s Will. 3These weird beliefs He does not share with you. 4This is enough to prove that they are wrong, but you do not perceive that this is so.

4. 1Why would you not be overjoyed to be assured that all the evil that you think you did was never done, that all your sins are nothing, that you are as pure and holy as you were created, and that light and joy and peace abide in you? 2Your image of your­self cannot withstand the Will of God. 3You think that this is death, but it is life. 4You think you are destroyed, but you are saved.

5. 1The self you made is not the Son of God. 2Therefore, this self does not exist at all. 3And anything it seems to do and think means nothing. 4It is neither bad nor good. 5It is unreal, and noth­ing more than that. 6It does not battle with the Son of God. 7It does not hurt him, nor attack his peace. 8It has not changed creation, nor reduced eternal sinlessness to sin, and love to hate. 9What power can this self you made possess, when it would contradict the Will of God?

6. 1Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. 2Over and over this must be repeated, until it is accepted. 3It is true. 4Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. 5Nothing can touch it, or change what God created as eternal. 6The self you made, evil and full of sin, is meaningless. 7Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God, and light and joy and peace abide in you.

7. 1Salvation requires the acceptance of but one thought;—you are as God created you, not what you made of yourself. 2Whatever evil you may think you did, you are as God created you. 3What­ever mistakes you made, the truth about you is unchanged. 4Creation is eternal and unalterable. 5Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God. 6You are and will forever be exactly as you were created. 7Light and joy and peace abide in you because God put them there.

8. 1In our longer exercise periods today, which would be most profitable if done for the first five minutes of every waking hour, begin by stating the truth about your creation:

2Light and joy and peace abide in me.

3My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.

4Then put away your foolish self-images, and spend the rest of the practice period in trying to experience what God has given you, in place of what you have decreed for yourself.

9. 1You are what God created or what you made. 2One Self is true; the other is not there. 3Try to experience the unity of your one Self. 4Try to appreciate Its Holiness and the love from which It was created. 5Try not to interfere with the Self which God created as you, by hiding Its majesty behind the tiny idols of evil and sinfulness you have made to replace It. 6Let It come into Its Own. 7Here you are; This is You. 8And light and joy and peace abide in you because this is so.

10. 1You may not be willing or even able to use the first five min­utes of each hour for these exercises. 2Try, however, to do so when you can. 3At least remember to repeat these thoughts each hour:

4Light and joy and peace abide in me.

5My sinlessness is guaranteed by God.

6Then try to devote at least a minute or so to closing your eyes and realizing that this is a statement of the truth about you.

11. 1If a situation arises that seems to be disturbing, quickly dispel the illusion of fear by repeating these thoughts again. 2Should you be tempted to become angry with someone, tell him silently:

3Light and joy and peace abide in you.

4Your sinlessness is guaranteed by God.

5You can do much for the world’s salvation today. 6You can do much today to bring you closer to the part in salvation that God has assigned to you. 7And you can do much today to bring the conviction to your mind that the idea for the day is true indeed.