A Course
In Miracles

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LESSON 191

I am the holy Son of God Himself.

1. 1Here is your declaration of release from bondage of the world. 2And here as well is all the world released. 3You do not see what you have done by giving to the world the role of jailer to the Son of God. 4What could it be but vicious and afraid, fearful of shad­ows, punitive and wild, lacking all reason, blind, insane with hate?

2. 1What have you done that this should be your world? 2What have you done that this is what you see? 3Deny your own Iden­tity, and this is what remains. 4You look on chaos and proclaim it is yourself. 5There is no sight that fails to witness this to you. 6There 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. 1Deny your own Identity, and you will not escape the madness which induced this weird, unnatural and ghostly thought that mocks creation and that laughs at God. 2Deny your own Identity, and you assail the universe alone, without a friend, a tiny particle of dust against the legions of your enemies. 3Deny 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. 1Yet what is it except a game you play in which Identity can be denied? 2You are as God created you. 3All else but this one thing is folly to believe. 4In this one thought is everyone set free. 5In this one truth are all illusions gone. 6In this one fact is sinlessness proclaimed to be forever part of everything, the central core of its existence and its guarantee of immortality.

5. 1But 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. 2And from this place of safety and escape you will return and set it free. 3For he who can accept his true Identity is truly saved. 4And his salvation is the gift he gives to everyone, in gratitude to Him Who pointed out the way to happiness that changed his whole perspective of the world.

6. 1One holy thought like this and you are free: You are the holy Son of God Himself. 2And with this holy thought you learn as well that you have freed the world. 3You have no need to use it cruelly, and then perceive this savage need in it. 4You set it free of your imprisonment. 5You 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. 1Be glad today how very easily is hell undone. 2You need but tell yourself:

3I am the holy Son of God Himself. 4I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain; I cannot suffer loss, nor fail to do all that salvation asks.

5And in that thought is everything you look on wholly changed.

8. 1A miracle has lighted up all dark and ancient caverns, where the rites of death echoed since time began. 2For time has lost its hold upon the world. 3The 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. 4Who could see the world as dark and sinful, when God’s Son has come again at last to set it free?

9. 1You 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 unto you in earth and Heaven. 2There is nothing that you cannot do. 3You play the game of death, of being helpless, pitifully tied to dissolution in a world which shows no mercy to you. 4Yet when you accord it mercy, will its mercy shine on you.

10. 1Then let the Son of God awaken from his sleep, and opening his holy eyes, return again to bless the world he made. 2In error it began, but it will end in the reflection of his holiness. 3And he will sleep no more and dream of death. 4Then join with me today. 5Your glory is the light that saves the world. 6Do not withhold salvation longer. 7Look about the world, and see the suffering there. 8Is not your heart willing to bring your weary brothers rest?

11. 1They must await your own release. 2They stay in chains till you are free. 3They cannot see the mercy of the world until you find it in yourself. 4They suffer pain until you have denied its hold on you. 5They die till you accept your own eternal life. 6You are the holy Son of God Himself. 7Remember this, and all the world is free. 8Remember this, and earth and Heaven are one.