A Course
In Miracles

Authorized Online Edition
Workbook For Students

 
 

PART II

Introduction

1. 1Words 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. 1Now 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.

3. 1We 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. 1Now 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.

5. 1Now 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.

6. 1I 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. 1And 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. 1And 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.

9. 1We 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.

10. 1Now 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.

11. 1One 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 afterwards. 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.