As I'm wrapping up a new round of the first 50 lessons of the workbook, I can't help but admire the fractal nature of this first "chunk" of Jesus's teaching. It's like they encapsulate the essence of the entire 365 lessons. They form the main themes that set the patterns for the whole symphony. Jesus starts with the basics, introducing the fundamental concepts and then keeps spinning them into different angles, each lesson contributing to a progressive, cohesive and evolving exploration of the basic truth: 📘 "Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists." (ACIM, T-in.2:2-3) Now, remembering these first-level statements in day-to-day life is another story. But after an intense beginning of the year, working with Jesus one day at a time, I can't help to feel very supported and grateful for the mastermind who designed this training, each lesson ushering us a little further and preparing us for the next one. At the end of December 2023, I committed myself to posting one article a day for each lesson, for the first 50 lessons, with Kenneth Wapnick as a companion teacher. The experience was so rewarding that for a while, I even considered continuing the whole year. I won't be able to achieve this level of productivity, however. I don't have the space/time/energy to do it sustainably. I would end up drained or start to resent my daily lessons. I don't want to feel like in a marathon. I want to come to my daily lesson with joy in my heart, wondering with curiosity and an open mind what Jesus has prepared for me today. The daily posting kept me very engaged with the material though, and while I know the Course is a self-study programme, the feeling of belonging to a study group was very supportive for me and gave me the momentum I needed. I would like to thank every one of you whom I felt in our collective field of ACIM students. Your reactions, feedback, sharing and encouragement these last two months helped propel me onward. I am so very grateful for this community. I appreciate you very much and I am looking forward to continuing this year of forgiveness with you, even if we each progress in the intimacy of our lives at our own pace. This is not a goodbye, though. I'll hang out here and probably keep sharing. Not just in the same way or rhythm.

💡 Welcome to another fundamental lesson among the 50 Mighty (the first 50 😉), dear friends! This is another of these lessons Kenneth urges us not to take on the physical level, even if the language used makes it tempting. We always have to keep in mind that ACIM is a non-dualistic teaching using dualistic language to point us to the truth. 💡 True to this fact, today's idea could have been phrased as "There is nothing my holiness cannot do. And I need do nothing". With Jesus, remember, the emphasis is always on the level of the mind and not on the behavioral level involving the body, as this passage from the textbook reminds us (there is a whole chapter on the 'I need do nothing' subject): 📘 "“I need do nothing” is a statement of allegiance, a truly undivided loyalty. ⁸Believe it for just one instant, and you will accomplish more than is given to a century of contemplation, or of struggle against temptation. To do anything involves the body. ²And if you recognize you need do nothing, you have withdrawn the body’s value from your mind. "(ACIM, T-18.VII.6:7–7:2) 🧩 BEYOND TIME: CHOOSING THE HOLY INSTANT °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° 📘 "Your holiness reverses all the laws of the world. ²It is beyond every restriction of time, space, distance and limits of any kind." (ACIM, W-38.1:1-2) 💡 This first statement of the lesson establishes our holiness outside the restrictions of time and space, beyond separation that is always conditioned by them. In the following passage, Kenneth reminds us how sin, guilt, and fear are always time-related and why holiness overwrites them: 🔎 “This is because your holiness resides in your right mind, accessed by choosing the holy instant in which you are joined with Jesus or the Holy Spirit. This means there is no separation, and so there can be no sin, guilt, or fear. If there is no sin, there is no past; if there is no guilt, there is no present; and if there is no fear, there is no future. In other words, there is no time in the holy instant. Moreover, if there is no thought of separation from God, there is no body. To cite a previously cited statement from the text: “At no single instant [i.e., the holy instant] does the body exist at all” (T-18.VII.3:1). Thus holiness is completely outside time and space. ” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p. 118.

🧩 The Restoration of Our Right Mind °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° 🌟 After a month spent removing the carpet on which sat our perception of basically everything, Jesus keeps on building upon the two previous lessons and gives us more "restorative" ideas to contemplate about our true nature. This will continue for the next lessons until we reach the revision period and it offers a nice contrast to the first chunk of lessons dedicated to our "undoing". If you are still on board, you have successfully passed a critical threshold in your learning without running away, so congratulations! This is a big deal. 🔎 “In this lesson, and increasingly so for the next fifteen, Jesus helps us realize there is another part of us—what is known in the early part of the text as the right mind. This part, through the Holy Spirit, is still connected with the holiness of God that has never changed, despite our unholy dreams of guilt and judgment.” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p. 107. 🧩 Feeling Doubtful? Good! °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° 📘 "Today’s idea does not describe the way you see yourself now. ²It does, however, describe what vision will show you. ³It is difficult for anyone who thinks he is in this world to believe this of himself. ⁴Yet the reason he thinks he is in this world is because he does not believe it." (ACIM, W-35.1:1-4) 🌟 Jesus is very aware that we will most likely not believe in this idea or will at least have some serious reservations. Because we have all these ideas about ourselves that are critical and unloving, raising our awareness of our resistance to our "holiness" is the point. As repeated many times in the previous lessons, what we are not aware of, can not be corrected: 🔎 “He does not want this used as a mantra that we repeat over and over throughout the day to shout down our unloving thoughts. Rather, in keeping with our training, he wants us to bring our unloving thoughts to this loving thought. These unloving thoughts involve some expression of our belief that we are unholy or sinful. Thus would we rise to our new way of understanding, which is that there is another way of not only looking at ourselves, but another way of thinking about ourselves.” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p. 107.

🧩 Peace of Mind is an Internal Matter °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° 📘 "The idea for today begins to describe the conditions that prevail in the other way of seeing. ²Peace of mind is clearly an internal matter. ³It must begin with your own thoughts, and then extend outward." (ACIM, W-34.1:1-3) 🌟 This initial statement is never a welcomed one for our ego, as it logically prompts us to relinquish any expectations we might have regarding the world, the beings present in our lives, the ones we hope to meet, or the experiences we hope to have. It also means that none of the things, past or present, we currently identify as the source of our problems are responsible for our state of unhappiness, whether it ranges from mild discomfort to utter rage or desperation. 🔎 “Peace of mind is an “internal matter.” The problem is that most of the time we think it results from the outer world meeting our needs. However, Jesus teaches that peace has nothing to do with the external. The implications of this fact, once again, must evoke anxiety, because he is informing us that nothing outside can either hurt us or give us peace—the outer world does not threaten, victimize, or please us—there is nothing outside us! The challenge lies in allowing ourselves to become increasingly aware of this without lapsing into denial.” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p. 104. 🧩 Stepping Above the Battlefield °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° 📘 "It is from your peace of mind that a peaceful perception of the world arises." (ACIM, W-34.1:4) 🌟 Acknowledging that peace of mind is an “internal matter” leaves our ego without any material to feed its constant projections of guilt, attack, defense, and victimization. In this lesson, Jesus calls for the 'decision maker' in our mind to see that when there is no battle to fight, what we surrender to is not defeat—because the fight was never real—but to peace.

🧩 LET'S NOT BE CONFUSED ABOUT THE LANGUAGE °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° 🌟 Kenneth Wapnick makes a very important note about the potentially misleading language used in this lesson. The first example concerns the usage of the term God: 🔎 “In this lesson, too, in saying the purpose of God is in everything I see, Jesus is really speaking of the Holy Spirit’s teaching purpose.” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p 89. 🌟 This is important because God has nothing to do with our dualistic world. We set ourselves apart from him by making up this illusionary game of distorted shadows. The Holy Spirit must be understood as this intermediary reminding us of our un-severable connection to God, from whom we can never really be apart. The Holy Spirit is our Spirit in its un-split state. As in Sane Spirit VS insane spirit. And another example is given later when Jesus refers to the universe and its Creator: 📘 “Here Jesus uses the words universe and Creator loosely—another example of the “looseness” of the Course’s language—because clearly he is talking about the physical universe. But God cannot be the creator of the physical, as is unmistakably clear throughout A Course in Miracles. If you take these lines literally, you will end up pulling your hair out because they will seem to say the exact opposite of what Jesus is teaching elsewhere. You want to grasp the content of what he is teaching, rather than analyzing it to death and arguing with the form.” Excerpt from Journey through the Workbook of "A Course in Miracles", Kenneth Wapnick, Vol. 1, p 90. 🧩 SEEING AND THINKING ARE THE SAME °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° 🌟 When we say, "God is in everything I see", it should be clearly understood that it is only true if we share Jesus's vision, and therefore, "God is in everything I see" is merely an alternative way of saying "God is in everything I think". As Kenneth points out, this has nothing to do with our body's yees and everything to do with our interpretation of what we perceive; and consequently, the purpose we assign to it: