1. To perceive truly is to be aware of all reality through the awareness of your own. ²But for this no illusions can rise to meet your sight, for reality leaves no room for any error. ³This means that you perceive a brother only as you see him now. ⁴His past has no reality in the present, so you cannot see it. ⁵Your past reactions to him are also not there, and if it is to them that you react, you see but an image of him that you made and cherish instead of him. ⁶In your questioning of illusions, ask yourself if it is really sane to perceive what was as now. ⁷If you remember the past as you look upon your brother, you will be unable to perceive the reality that is now.

2. You consider it “natural” to use your past experience as the reference point from which to judge the present. ²Yet this is unnatural because it is delusional. ³When you have learned to look on everyone with no reference at all to the past, either his or yours as you perceived it, you will be able to learn from what you see now. ⁴For the past can cast no shadow to darken the present, unless you are afraid of light. ⁵And only if you are would you choose to bring darkness with you, and by holding it in your mind, see it as a dark cloud that shrouds your brothers and conceals their reality from your sight.

3. This darkness is in you. ²The Christ as revealed to you now has no past, for He is changeless, and in His changelessness lies your release. ³For if He is as He was created, there is no guilt in Him. ⁴No cloud of guilt has risen to obscure Him, and He stands revealed in everyone you meet because you see Him through Himself. ⁵To be born again is to let the past go, and look without condemnation upon the present. ⁶The cloud that obscures God’s Son to you is the past, and if you would have it past and gone, you must not see it now. ⁷If you see it now in your illusions, it has not gone from you, although it is not there.

4. Time can release as well as imprison, depending on whose interpretation of it you use. ²Past, present and future are not continuous, unless you force continuity on them. ³You can perceive them as continuous, and make them so for you. ⁴But do not be deceived, and then believe that this is how it is. ⁵For to believe reality is what you would have it be according to your use for it is delusional. ⁶You would destroy time’s continuity by breaking it into past, present and future for your own purposes. ⁷You would anticipate the future on the basis of your past experience, and plan for it accordingly. ⁸Yet by doing so you are aligning past and future, and not allowing the miracle, which could intervene between them, to free you to be born again.

5. The miracle enables you to see your brother without his past, and so perceive him as born again. ²His errors are all past, and by perceiving him without them you are releasing him. ³And since his past is yours, you share in this release. ⁴Let no dark cloud out of your past obscure him from you, for truth lies only in the present, and you will find it if you seek it there. ⁵You have looked for it where it is not, and therefore have not found it. ⁶Learn, then, to seek it where it is, and it will dawn on eyes that see. ⁷Your past was made in anger, and if you use it to attack the present, you will not see the freedom that the present holds.

6. Judgment and condemnation are behind you, and unless you bring them with you, you will see that you are free of them. ²Look lovingly upon the present, for it holds the only things that are forever true. ³All healing lies within it because its continuity is real. ⁴It extends to all aspects of the Sonship at the same time, and thus enables them to reach each other. ⁵The present is before time was, and will be when time is no more. ⁶In it are all things that are eternal, and they are one. ⁷Their continuity is timeless and their communication is unbroken, for they are not separated by the past. ⁸Only the past can separate, and it is nowhere.

7. The present offers you your brothers in the light that would unite you with them, and free you from the past. ²Would you, then, hold the past against them? ³For if you do, you are choosing to remain in the darkness that is not there, and refusing to accept the light that is offered you. ⁴For the light of perfect vision is freely given as it is freely received, and can be accepted only without limit. ⁵In this one, still dimension of time that does not change, and where there is no sight of what you were, you look at Christ and call His witnesses to shine on you because you called them forth. ⁶And they will not deny the truth in you, because you looked for it in them and found it there.

8. Now is the time of salvation, for now is the release from time. ²Reach out to all your brothers, and touch them with the touch of Christ. ³In timeless union with them is your continuity, unbroken because it is wholly shared. ⁴God’s guiltless Son is only light. ⁵There is no darkness in him anywhere, for he is whole. ⁶Call all your brothers to witness to his wholeness, as I am calling you to join with me. ⁷Each voice has a part in the song of redemption, the hymn of gladness and thanksgiving for the light to the Creator of light. ⁸The holy light that shines forth from God’s Son is the witness that his light is of his Father.

9. Shine on your brothers in remembrance of your Creator, for you will remember Him as you call forth the witnesses to His creation. ²Those whom you heal bear witness to your healing, for in their wholeness you will see your own. ³And as your hymns of praise and gladness rise to your Creator, He will return your thanks in His clear Answer to your call. ⁴For it can never be that His Son called upon Him and remained unanswered. ⁵His Call to you is but your call to Him. ⁶And in Him you are answered by His peace.

10. Child of Light, you know not that the light is in you. ²Yet you will find it through its witnesses, for having given light to them they will return it. ³Each one you see in light brings your light closer to your awareness. ⁴Love always leads to love. ⁵The sick, who ask for love, are grateful for it, and in their joy they shine with holy thanks. ⁶And this they offer you who gave them joy. ⁷They are your guides to joy, for having received it of you they would keep it. ⁸You have established them as guides to peace, for you have made it manifest in them. ⁹And seeing it, its beauty calls you home.

11. There is a light that this world cannot give. ²Yet you can give it, as it was given you. ³And as you give it, it shines forth to call you from the world and follow it. ⁴For this light will attract you as nothing in this world can do. ⁵And you will lay aside the world and find another. ⁶This other world is bright with love which you have given it. ⁷And here will everything remind you of your Father and His holy Son. ⁸Light is unlimited, and spreads across this world in quiet joy. ⁹All those you brought with you will shine on you, and you will shine on them in gratitude because they brought you here. ¹⁰Your light will join with theirs in power so compelling, that it will draw the others out of darkness as you look on them.

12. Awaking unto Christ is following the laws of love of your free will, and out of quiet recognition of the truth in them. ²The attraction of light must draw you willingly, and willingness is signified by giving. ³Those who accept love of you become your willing witnesses to the love you gave them, and it is they who hold it out to you. ⁴In sleep you are alone, and your awareness is narrowed to yourself. ⁵And that is why the nightmares come. ⁶You dream of isolation because your eyes are closed. ⁷You do not see your brothers, and in the darkness you cannot look upon the light you gave to them.

13. And yet the laws of love are not suspended because you sleep. ²And you have followed them through all your nightmares, and have been faithful in your giving, for you were not alone. ³Even in sleep has Christ protected you, ensuring the real world for you when you awake. ⁴In your name He has given for you, and given you the gifts He gave. ⁵God’s Son is still as loving as his Father. ⁶Continuous with his Father, he has no past apart from Him. ⁷So he has never ceased to be his Father’s witness and his own. ⁸Although he slept, Christ’s vision did not leave him. ⁹And so it is that he can call unto himself the witnesses that teach him that he never slept.