Introduction
1. Words will mean little now. ²We use them but as guides on which we do not now depend. ³For now we seek direct experience of truth alone. ⁴The lessons that remain are merely introductions to the times in which we leave the world of pain, and go to enter peace. ⁵Now we begin to reach the goal this course has set, and find the end toward which our practicing was always geared.
2. Now we attempt to let the exercise be merely a beginning. ²For we wait in quiet expectation for our God and Father. ³He has promised He will take the final step Himself. ⁴And we are sure His promises are kept. ⁵We have come far along the road, and now we wait for Him. ⁶We will continue spending time with Him each morning and at night, as long as makes us happy. ⁷We will not consider time a matter of duration now. ⁸We use as much as we will need for the result that we desire. ⁹Nor will we forget our hourly remembrance in between, calling to God when we have need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal.
The first half of the lessons was about forming new ideas and new habits. There were many exercises and lots of repetition. We were learning to discipline the mind. Now our focus is going to be more on direct experience. We are going to be asked to go within, to be silent, to hear what we are being told. There are not so many rules about time and place because we don’t need that now. Just do the lessons in a way that brings you closer to God, staying with Him as long as you need to or want to.
3. We will continue with a central thought for all the days to come, and we will use that thought to introduce our times of rest, and calm our minds at need. ²Yet we will not content ourselves with simple practicing in the remaining holy instants which conclude the year that we have given God. ³We say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father to reveal Himself, as He has promised. ⁴We have called on Him, and He has promised that His Son will not remain unanswered when he calls His Name.
4. Now do we come to Him with but His Word upon our minds and hearts, and wait for Him to take the step to us that He has told us, through His Voice, He would not fail to take when we invited Him. ²He has not left His Son in all his madness, nor betrayed his trust in Him. ³Has not His faithfulness earned Him the invitation that He seeks to make us happy? ⁴We will offer it, and it will be accepted. ⁵So our times with Him will now be spent. ⁶We say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait for Him to come to us.
He is giving us a central thought that we will contemplate and then we will quiet the mind and welcome Him. He will reveal Himself to us as He has promised to do. We will use the central thoughts during the day, of course, but that is not all that is being offered to us. These moments of stillness in which we invite Him in will be a time of quiet rest and happiness.
5. Now is the time of prophecy fulfilled. ²Now are all ancient promises upheld and fully kept. ³No step remains for time to separate from its accomplishment. ⁴For now we cannot fail. ⁵Sit silently and wait upon your Father. ⁶He has willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do so. ⁷And you could have never come this far unless you saw, however dimly, that it is your will.
Oh, look at this paragraph! We cannot fail. The prophecy will be fulfilled and all promises kept. It will be accomplished. Our Father comes to us because we now recognize that it is our will that He do so. Maybe we do not fully recognize this in ourselves but we are reassured that we would not have come this far had we not seen, however dimly, that it is our will. How amazing! How wonderful!
6. I am so close to you we cannot fail. ²Father, we give these holy times to You, in gratitude to Him Who taught us how to leave the world of sorrow in exchange for its replacement, given us by You. ³We look not backward now. ⁴We look ahead, and fix our eyes upon the journey’s end. ⁵Accept these little gifts of thanks from us, as through Christ’s vision we behold a world beyond the one we made, and take that world to be the full replacement of our own.
7. And now we wait in silence, unafraid and certain of Your coming. ²We have sought to find our way by following the Guide You sent to us. ³We did not know the way, but You did not forget us. ⁴And we know that You will not forget us now. ⁵We ask but that Your ancient promises be kept which are Your Will to keep. ⁶We will with You in asking this. ⁷The Father and the Son, Whose holy Will created all that is, can fail in nothing. ⁸In this certainty, we undertake these last few steps to You, and rest in confidence upon Your Love, which will not fail the Son who calls to You.
8. And so we start upon the final part of this one holy year, which we have spent together in the search for truth and God, Who is its one Creator. ²We have found the way He chose for us, and made the choice to follow it as He would have us go. ³His Hand has held us up. ⁴His Thoughts have lit the darkness of our minds. ⁵His Love has called to us unceasingly since time began.
Jesus is telling us that we are so close to him that we cannot fail. I feel that closeness and am appreciative of his dedication to us. Thank you, Brother, for all you do on our behalf. Thank you for helping us to accept that there is another world, a world without the fear and guilt that is manifest in the unforgiven world. We will not look back but only forward from now on.
God did not forget us. He sent us Helpers to guide us Home. We will with You in asking that your ancient promises be kept and that we will again know ourselves as Son to You, our Father. We began with doubts and fears, but we continue with certainty and confidence that we will not fail.
I love the sentence that says His Love has called to us unceasingly since time began. Thank you, God!
9. We had a wish that God would fail to have the Son whom He created for Himself. ²We wanted God to change Himself, and be what we would make of Him. ³And we believed that our insane desires were the truth. ⁴Now we are glad that this is all undone, and we no longer think illusions true. ⁵The memory of God is shimmering across the wide horizons of our minds. ⁶A moment more, and it will rise again. ⁷A moment more, and we who are God’s Sons are safely home, where He would have us be.
Ok, we were foolish in our desire for God to be something He was not, but we have come to our senses and now we are gladly allowing this insanity to be undone. ⁵The memory of God is shimmering across the wide horizons of our minds. Jesus what poetry! It makes my heart sing as I read it and take in its meaning. Jesus says just a moment more and I think he is using poetic license here and it will be a very long moment. Or maybe it is only a moment from his perspective and only seems a long time from our perspective.
10. Now is the need for practice almost done. ²For in this final section, we will come to understand that we need only call to God, and all temptations disappear. ³Instead of words, we need but feel His Love. ⁴Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. ⁵Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed. ⁶We will accept the way God’s plan will end, as we received the way it started. ⁷Now it is complete. ⁸This year has brought us to eternity.
I have nothing to add to this paragraph. It is so perfectly beautiful.
11. One further use for words we still retain. ²From time to time, instructions on a theme of special relevance will intersperse our daily lessons and the periods of wordless, deep experience which should come afterward. ³These special thoughts should be reviewed each day, each one of them to be continued till the next is given you. ⁴They should be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of the holy and blessed instants in the day. ⁵We give the first of these instructions now.