Workbook
/ Part II
3. What Is the World?
1. The world is false perception. ²It is born of error, and it has not left its source. ³It will remain no longer than the thought that gave it birth is cherished. ⁴When the thought of separation has been changed to one of true forgiveness, will the world be seen in quite another light; and one which leads to truth, where all the world must disappear and all its errors vanish. ⁵Now its source has gone, and its effects are gone as well.
2. The world was made as an attack on God. ²It symbolizes fear. ³And what is fear except love’s absence? ⁴Thus the world was meant to be a place where God could enter not, and where His Son could be apart from Him. ⁵Here was perception born, for knowledge could not cause such insane thoughts. ⁶But eyes deceive, and ears hear falsely. ⁷Now mistakes become quite possible, for certainty has gone.
3. The mechanisms of illusion have been born instead. ²And now they go to find what has been given them to seek. ³Their aim is to fulfill the purpose which the world was made to witness and make real. ⁴They see in its illusions but a solid base where truth exists, upheld apart from lies. ⁵Yet everything that they report is but illusion which is kept apart from truth.
4. As sight was made to lead away from truth, it can be redirected. ²Sounds become the call for God, and all perception can be given a new purpose by the One Whom God appointed Savior to the world. ³Follow His light, and see the world as He beholds it. ⁴Hear His Voice alone in all that speaks to you. ⁵And let Him give you peace and certainty, which you have thrown away, but Heaven has preserved for you in Him.
5. Let us not rest content until the world has joined our changed perception. ²Let us not be satisfied until forgiveness has been made complete. ³And let us not attempt to change our function. ⁴We must save the world. ⁵For we who made it must behold it through the eyes of Christ, that what was made to die can be restored to everlasting life.
Next Section
(ACIM, W-pII.3.1:1–5:5)
Manual for Teachers
14. How Will the World End?
1. Can what has no beginning really end? ²The world will end in an illusion, as it began. ³Yet will its ending be an illusion of mercy. ⁴The illusion of forgiveness, complete, excluding no one, limitless in gentleness, will cover it, hiding all evil, concealing all sin and ending guilt forever. ⁵So ends the world that guilt had made, for now it has no purpose and is gone. ⁶The father of illusions is the belief that they have a purpose; that they serve a need or gratify a want. ⁷Perceived as purposeless, they are no longer seen. ⁸Their uselessness is recognized, and they are gone. ⁹How but in this way are all illusions ended? ¹⁰They have been brought to truth, and truth saw them not. ¹¹It merely overlooked the meaningless.
2. Until forgiveness is complete, the world does have a purpose. ²It becomes the home in which forgiveness is born, and where it grows and becomes stronger and more all-embracing. ³Here is it nourished, for here it is needed. ⁴A gentle Savior, born where sin was made and guilt seemed real. ⁵Here is His home, for here there is need of Him indeed. ⁶He brings the ending of the world with Him. ⁷It is His Call God’s teachers answer, turning to Him in silence to receive His Word. ⁸The world will end when all things in it have been rightly judged by His judgment. ⁹The world will end with the benediction of holiness upon it. ¹⁰When not one thought of sin remains, the world is over. ¹¹It will not be destroyed nor attacked nor even touched. ¹²It will merely cease to seem to be.
3. Certainly this seems to be a long, long while away. ²“When not one thought of sin remains” appears to be a long-range goal indeed. ³But time stands still, and waits on the goal of God’s teachers. ⁴Not one thought of sin will remain the instant any one of them accepts Atonement for himself. ⁵It is not easier to forgive one sin than to forgive all of them. ⁶The illusion of orders of difficulty is an obstacle the teacher of God must learn to pass by and leave behind. ⁷One sin perfectly forgiven by one teacher of God can make salvation complete. ⁸Can you understand this? ⁹No; it is meaningless to anyone here. ¹⁰Yet it is the final lesson in which unity is restored. ¹¹It goes against all the thinking of the world, but so does Heaven.
4. The world will end when its thought system has been completely reversed. ²Until then, bits and pieces of its thinking will still seem sensible. ³The final lesson, which brings the ending of the world, cannot be grasped by those not yet prepared to leave the world and go beyond its tiny reach. ⁴What, then, is the function of the teacher of God in this concluding lesson? ⁵He need merely learn how to approach it; to be willing to go in its direction. ⁶He need merely trust that, if God’s Voice tells him it is a lesson he can learn, he can learn it. ⁷He does not judge it either as hard or easy. ⁸His Teacher points to it, and he trusts that He will show him how to learn it.
5. The world will end in joy, because it is a place of sorrow. ²When joy has come, the purpose of the world has gone. ³The world will end in peace, because it is a place of war. ⁴When peace has come, what is the purpose of the world? ⁵The world will end in laughter, because it is a place of tears. ⁶Where there is laughter, who can longer weep? ⁷And only complete forgiveness brings all this to bless the world. ⁸In blessing it departs, for it will not end as it began. ⁹To turn hell into Heaven is the function of God’s teachers, for what they teach are lessons in which Heaven is reflected. ¹⁰And now sit down in true humility, and realize that all God would have you do you can do. ¹¹Do not be arrogant and say you cannot learn His Own curriculum. ¹²His Word says otherwise. ¹³His Will be done. ¹⁴It cannot be otherwise. (ACIM, M-14.1:1–5:14)
