Lesson 338. I am affected only by my thoughts.
It needs but this to let salvation come to all the world. For in this single thought is everyone released at last from fear. Now has he learned that no one frightens him, and nothing can endanger him. He has no enemies, and he is safe from all external things. His thoughts can frighten him, but since these thoughts belong to him alone, he has the power to change them and exchange each fear thought for a happy thought of love. He crucified himself. Yet God has planned that His beloved Son will be redeemed.
Your plan is sure, my Father,--only Yours. All other plans will fail. And I will have thoughts that will frighten me, until I learn that You have given me the only Thought that leads me to salvation. Mine alone will fail, and lead me nowhere. But the Thought You gave me promises to lead me home, because it holds Your promise to Your Son.
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Below, is from Kenneth Wapnick's commentaries on this lesson, from "Journey Through the Workbook of A Course in Miracles," which can be purchased at the following site:??~ M. Street.
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Lesson 338. "I am affected only by my thoughts."
*In this lesson and the two that follow, Jesus reminds us how to be free of suffering. Since pain does not originate outside, release from it cannot be sought there. We think we are affected by everything but our thoughts -- weather, germs, insults, the body's deterioration, etc. Yet since this is our dream, we can be affected only by our thoughts. This realization marks the end of pain. As Jesus says in "The Dreamer of the Dream," the way to be free of all suffering is to see the problem as it is, not the way we set it up (T-27.VII.2). Our setup was to attribute the cause of our distress to something external. To see the problem as it is, however, is to accept the internal cause of suffering -- the mind's decision for guilt and unforgiveness.*
(1:1-4) "It needs but this to let salvation come to all the world. For in this single thought is everyone released at last from fear. Now has he learned that no one frightens him, and nothing can endanger him. He has no enemies, and he is safe from all external things."
*Salvation comes when I understand I am affected only by my thoughts. If the world is nothing but a projection of my thought, when this thought changes, my perception of the world changes, too. Within the dream our bodies are not safe; indeed, they were made to be vulnerable. However, we are not talking about the dream's bodily hero. Jesus' teachings can be understood only when we are able to step outside the dream and no longer see ourselves as figures within it. Being above the battleground with Jesus (T-23.IV), we understand we have brought this on ourselves, for our purpose was to prove we are innocent victims, not sinful victimizers. Thus do we see that we can be affected only by our victimizing thoughts, and nothing else, and therefore are made safe from all threat and released from fear.*
(1:5-7) "His thoughts can frighten him, but since these thoughts belong to him alone, he has the power to change them and exchange each fear thought for a happy thought of love. He crucified himself. Yet God has planned that His beloved Son will be redeemed."
*God's plan -- the Atonement -- undoes our misthoughts. Our first step is realizing that the problem is not outside, but our <thoughts> about what is outside. That is why A Course in Miracles gives us true hope, for we can do something about our thoughts. Since it is our dream, we can change it, but if we are the victim of another's dream, there is no hope for us -- except attack.*
(2) "Your plan is sure, my Father,--only Yours. All other plans will fail. And I will have thoughts that will frighten me, until I learn that You have given me the only Thought that leads me to salvation. Mine alone will fail, and lead me nowhere. But the Thought You gave me promises to lead me home, because it holds Your promise to Your Son."
*God's plan is to return the problem to the mind, because that is where it is undone. The world's plans -- religious, economic, political, educational -- are aimed at making the dream better. That is why they ultimately fail. The only plan that will work -- the Atonement -- leads us outside the body and wrong mind to the decision maker where the dream began, and where we choose to awaken from the dream. We humbly recognize that our plans to minimize pain and maximize pleasure will never work. In one way or another, that is everyone's plan when they awake each morning: How can I make myself better? We may get what we want during the day, but in the end the pleasure or happiness will never last. God's plan of Atonement is the only one that can fulfill His promise of eternal happiness for His Son.*
