(Lee reading with musical accompaniment from “Maz” courtesy of Curtis Knight Foundation / ACIMRadio.NET )
God is no en e my to you. He asks
no more than that He hear you call Him Friend
T 29 J 9.. .... Forgiving dreams remind you that you live
in safety, and have NOT attacked yourself.
T 29 J 10. So do
your child ish terrors melt away,
and dreams be come a sign that you have made
a new beginning, NOT another try
to worship i dols, and to KEEP attack.
Forgiving dreams are kind to ev' ry one
who figures in the dream. And so they bring
the dream er full re
lease from dreams of fear.
He does not fear
his judg ment, for
he has
judged no-one, nor has sought to be released
THROUGH judgment
from what judgment MUST im pose.
And all the while he is remember ing
what he for got when judgment seemed to be
the way to SAVE him from its penalty.
Chapter XXX - 30 - The New Beginning
T 30 A. Introduction May 22, 1968
T 30 A 1. The "new beginning" now becomes the fo cus
of curriculum. The goal is clear,
but now you need specific meth ods for
attaining it. The speed by which it can
be reached depends on on ly this;[1]
your willingness to practice ev ery step.
Each one will help a little, ev ery time
it is at tempt ed. And, to geth er, they
will lead you both[2] from dreams of judgment to
forgiving dreams, and out of pain and fear.
They are not new to you, but they are more
ideas than rules of thought to you as yet.
So now we need to practice them awhile,
until they are the rules by which you live.
We seek to make them habits now, so you
will have them read y, and for AN Y needs[3].
T 30 B. Rules For Decision
T 30 B 1. Decisions are contin u ous. You do
not always know when you are making them.
But, with a little practice in the ones
you rec og nize, a set begins to form
which sees you through the rest. It is not wise
to let yourself become preoccu pied
with ev' ry[4] step you take. The proper set,
a dopt ed con sciously each time you wake,
will put you well a head. And if you find
re sis tance strong and ded ication weak,
you are not read y. DO NOT FIGHT YOURSELF.
But think about the kind of day you want,
and tell yourself there is a way in which
this ver y day can hap pen just like that.
Then try again to HAVE the day you want.
T 30 B 2. 1. The outlook starts with this:
"Today I will make NO de ci sion by myself."
This means
that you are choos ing NOT to be the judge
of what to do. But it must ALSO mean
you will not judge the [sit u a tions where
you will] be called up on to make re sponse.
For if you judge them, you HAVE set the rules
for how you should react to them. And then
A[NOTHER an swer can not BUT] pro duce
con fu sion and un certainty AND FEAR.
This is your ma jor problem now. You still
make up your minds, and THEN decide to ask
what you should do. And what you hear may not
resolve the problem AS YOU SAW IT FIRST.
This leads to fear, be cause it con tradicts
what you per ceive, and so you feel attacked.
AND THEREFORE ANGRY. There are rules by which
this will not happen. But it does occur,
at first, to ev eryone who lis tens well.[5]
T 30 B 3. 2. Throughout the day, at any time you think
of it, and have a qui et mo ment for
re flec tion, tell yourself a gain the kind
of day you want; the feelings you would have,
the things you WANT to hap pen, and
the things you WOULD exper i ence. And say,
"If I make no decisions by (for[6]) myself,
This is the day that will be GIVEN me."
These two procedures, practiced well, will serve
to let you be di rect ed WITHOUT fear,
for opposition will not FIRST a rise,
and THEN become a problem in it self.
But there will still be times when you have judged
al read y. Now the an swer will provoke
attack, un less you quickly straighten out
your mind to WANT an an swer that will work.
Be cer tain this has hap pened, if you feel
yourself unwilling to sit by and ask
to have the an swer GIVEN you. This means
you HAVE de cid ed by yourself, AND CAN
NOT SEE THE QUEST ION. Now you need a quick
re stor ative BE FORE you ask.
T 30 B 4.3. Remem ber once a gain the day you want,
and rec ognize that something has oc curred
which is not part of it. Then realize
that you have asked a ques tion by your self,
and MUST have set an an swer in your terms.
Then say,
"I have no ques tion. I for got
what to de cide."
This cancels out the terms
which you have set, and lets the ANSWER show
you what the ques tion MUST have really been.
Try to ob serve this rule with out delay
DE SPITE your op position. For you have
AL READ Y got ten an gry, and[7] your fear
of be ing an swered in a diff'[8] rent way
from what YOUR ver sion of the ques tion asks
will gain mo men tum un til you believe
the day you want is one in which you get
YOUR an swer to your ques tion. #And you will
not get it, for it would destroy the day
by rob bing you of what you REALLY want.
This can be very hard to rea lize,
when once you have de cid ed by yourself
the rules which PROMISE you a hap py day.
But these de ci sions still can be un done,
by sim ple meth ods which you CAN ac cept.
T 30 B 5. 4. If you are so unwilling to re ceive
you can not e ven let your QUES TION go,
you can be gin to change your mind with this:
"At least I can de cide I do not LIKE
what I feel now."
This much is ob vi ous,
and paves the way for the next easy step,
which fol lows this.[9]
T 30 B 6. 5. Having de cid ed that you do not like
the way you feel, what could be eas i er
than to con tin ue with.. --
"And so I HOPE I have been wrong."
This works A GAINST the sense
of opposition, and ..##re minds you that
help is not be ing thrust upon you, but
is something that you want and that you need
BECAUSE you do not like the way you feel.
This ti ny o pening will be e [nough
to let you go a head with just] a few
more steps you need to LET your self be helped.
T 30 B 7. 6. Now you have reached the turn ing point, because
it has oc curred to you that YOU will gain,
if what you have de cid ed is NOT so.
Until this point is reached, you will be lieve
your hap pi ness DEPENDS on being right.
But this much reason have you now at tained;
YOU would be bet ter off if you were WRONG.
This ti ny grain of wisdom will suf fice
to take you fur ther. You are NOT co erced,
but merely hope to have a thing you WANT.
And you can say in per fect hon esty,
"I WANT another way to look at this[10]."
Now you have changed your mind a bout the day,
and have REMEMBERED what you really want.
Its pur pose has no long er been ob scured
by the insane belief you want it for
the goal of being right when you are wrong.
Thus is the read i ness for ask ing[v] brought
to your awareness, for you can not be
in con flict when you ask for what you want,
and SEE that it is this for which you ask.
T 30 B 8. 7. This fi nal step is but acknowledg ment
of lack of opposition to be helped.
It is a statement of an o pen mind,
not certain yet, but willing to be shown:
"Per [haps there IS another way to look at this.
What can] I LOSE by ask ing?"
Thus
are you made read y [for a ques tion that makes sense,
and so] the answer [will make sense as well.
Nor will] you fight against it, for you see
that it is YOU who will be helped by it.
T 30 B 9. It must be clear that it is eas i er
to have a hap py day if you pre vent
un hap pi ness from en tering at all.
But this takes prac tice in the rules which will
protect you from the rav ages of fear.
When this has been a chieved, the sorry dream
of judg ment has for ev er been un done.
But, mean while, you have need for practicing
the rules for its un do ing. Let us, then,
consider once a gain the ver y first
of the de ci sions which are offered here.
T 30 B 10. We said you can begin a happy day
with the deter mi na tion not to make
decisions by your self. This seems to be
a free[11] de cis ion in it self. And yet,
you CANNOT make decisions by your self.
The on ly ques tion real ly is with WHAT
you choose to make them. That is really all.
T 30 B 11. The first rule, then, is not co er cion, but
a simple statement of a simple fact.
You will not make deci sions by your self
what ev er[12] you de cide. For they are made
with i dols or with God. And you ask help
of[13] Christ or an ti Christ[14], and which you choose
will join with you, and tell you what to do.[ix]
Your day is not at ran dom. It is set
by what you choose to live it with, and how
the friend whose coun sel you have sought per ceives
your hap pi ness. You always ask ad vice
before you can de cide on any thing.
Let THIS be understood, and you can see
there can not be co er cion here, nor grounds
for opposition that you may be free.
There IS no free dom from what must oc cur.
And if you think there is, you must be wrong.
T 30 B 12. The sec ond rule as well is but a fact.
For you and your ad vi sor[15] must agree
on what you want before it can oc cur.
It is but this A [GREEMENT which per mits
all things] to hap pen. Nothing can be caused
with out some form of un ion, be it with
a dream of judgment or the Voice for God.
Decisions cause re sults BE CAUSE they are
not made in i so la tion. They are made
by you and your ad vi sor, for your self,
and for the world as well. The day you want
you off er to the world, for it wilL be
what you have asked for, and will re in force
the rule[x] of your ad vi sor through the world.
Whose kingdom is the world for you to day?
What kind of day will you de cide to have?
T 30 B 13. It needs but two who would have hap piness
this day to prom ise it to all the world.
It needs but two to under stand that they
cannot de cide a lone, to guaran tee
the joy they asked for will be whol ly shared.
For they have under stood the ba sic law
which makes decision pow er ful, and gives
it all ef fects that it will ev er have.
It needs but two. These two are joined be fore
there CAN be a decision. Let this be
the one re mind er that you keep in mind,
and you will have the day you want, and give
it to the world by hav ing it yourselves[16].
Your judg ment has been lift ed from the world
by your de ci sion for a happy day.
And as you have received so must you give.
T 30 C. Freedom of Will
May 23, 1968
T 30 C 1. Do you not un derstand that to op pose
the Ho ly Spirit is to fight your self?
He tells you but YOUR will; He speaks for YOU.
In His Di vin i ty is but your own.
And all He knows is but your knowledge, saved
for you, that you may do your will through Him.
God ASKS you do your will. He joins with YOU.
He did not set His king dom up a lone.
And Heav'n[17] it self but rep re sents your will,
where ev 'ry thing created is for you.
No spark of life but was cre a ted with
your glad consent, as you would have it be.
And not one Thought that God has ev er had
but wait ed for your bless ing to be born.
God is no en e my to you. He asks
no more than that He hear you call Him Friend[18].
End Notes
[1] HLC and FIP change this line to: be reached depends on this one thing alone;” which creates IP on this line
[2] FIP and HLC have “And together will
these steps lead you from dreams”
[3] FIP and HLC change this to: “will have them ready for whatever need.”
[4] The contraction “ev’ry” is typed “every” in the manuscript
[5] FIP and HLC change this to “while you are learning how to hear”
[6] The word (for) is typed in the inter-line space and possibly crossed out.
[7] FIP puts a period and begins a new sentence with “And” here.
[8] The contraction “diff’rent” is typed “different” in the manuscript.
[9] FIP and HLC omit “which follows this.”
[10] FIP omits quotation marks and replaces the comma before the quotes with a colon.
[11] FIP and HLC change “free” to “real”.
[12] HLC capitalizes WHATEVER, the others do not.
[13] Manuscript has “the” or “their” crossed out
[14] FIP has “anti-Christ or Christ” … words reversed
[15] Sub-Ur and HLC have “advisor” while FIP has “adviser”
[16] FIP and HLC have this singular: “yourself”
[17] Contraction not in manuscript
[18] FIP and HLC add quotation marks around “Friend.”