ACIM Workbook
Healing Perspectives

Lesson 31

“I am not a victim of the world I see.”

When I hear the words, “I am not a victim of the world I see,” what I’m really hearing is that I’m not vulnerable. This doesn’t mean to me that I accept pain, suffering or sacrifice with an attitude of tolerance, it means that I am free to be in pain if I choose, or I am free to be in Love if I choose. The choice is literally mine. And this is how this idea for today is not a threat, but a window to freedom. I want to use this idea with an open mind so that I can allow Spirit to help me experience the freedom that comes with this choice to experience a more pure state of being that reflects invulnerability.

I am not a victim of the world I see is a huge release for me. It is the key to freedom from the self-attack I have created. Each time I see myself as a victim of something in the so called outer world, what I am really doing is attacking my Self, attacking my true state of innocence and invulnerability. The good news is I can choose to stop this at any given moment. More than anything else, the Course is giving me the tools to stop my own victimhood. In this realization, I am free to be as God created me.

As I was doing this exercise, in the eyes closed portion, I suddenly remembered something that I had committed to doing, but had not done. The immediate reaction was guilt. And then I remembered I am not the victim of the world I see. I do not have to use my perception of anything as an excuse for guilt. Guilt is self-attack. I do not have to play the victim of guilt. Sometimes that even seems to be an attractive gain. I can use it to get sympathy from others. But that sympathy comes with a very high price. The price is that when I accept guilt, I lose awareness of Love, which means I lose awareness of my Self.

This lesson is telling me that this need not be. I am not the victim of the world I see. I always have choice. I always in every moment choose who is my guide for seeing. When I choose the ego it will always show me guilt and justification for attack. When I choose the Holy Spirit as my guide, It will always show me Love and justification for Love. With one comes pain, and with the other comes peace. I choose peace. I choose to remember that I am not the victim of the world I see.

At any time I am either choosing to join with the ego or join with Holy Spirit. This lesson is a gentle reminder to join with the Holy Spirit. Joining with the ego always attracts victimhood. The ego script always leads to guilt, victimhood and “problems.” If I ever think I have a “problem,” I am learning to look at how I have joined the ego one more time. When I return to joining with the Holy Spirit, the perception of a problem always gets turned around. I am always helped to heal my mind of belief in problems when I return to the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit shows me that the problem is coming from my own mind. The Holy Spirit brings the Light the dissolves the perception of a problem. The Holy Spirit brings a much bigger picture. The Holy Spirit brings trust, compassion and Love. The Holy Spirit brings peace. The ego always goes for the opposite. The ego always goes for pain, problems, victimhood and lack.

Through this gradual step by step awakening process, I am brought to look at ways I may still be thinking I am a victim of the world. I am brought to releasing these false ideas by taking them to the Holy Spirit to be undone with simplicity and ease. There is no problem that will not be undone if I am willing to take it to the Holy Spirit and receive a corrected perception. This is how I heal my mind. This is how I heal the world.

I am not the victim of the world I see. The world I see is in my mind. The world I see is the endless stream of thoughts in my mind. Thoughts that run like wild horses, never stopping, never resting, across a vast plain of fear. These thoughts are mine - of my ego. I am no bystander. I watch the scene. I see the horses' power to stir up the dust of fear to try to blind me to the truth.

Yet these wild things are not me, not really. Only one part of me allows them to run free. My Real Self looks on in amusement. These wild things grow smaller and smaller. They can be tamed. They can be seen for what they are -- a product of my choice.

I can choose differently. I can ask for help to discipline my wild thoughts. They can be herded into a corral. I can take charge of my own mind with Holy Spirit's help. I am God's will. No wild things can hold against that. Today I remember I am One with God, One with the power of All That Is. I am no victim. With Holy Spirit's help, I see that I am the Son of God, and in this I find true freedom and power.

I am not a victim of the world I see, because God doesn't need me to be victim and so never sends hardness my way. That is my doing, my need.

I am not a victim of the me I see. My short comings are not Mine, neither are my virtues. They are illusions along with my ego. I will remember this lesson now.

I no longer need to prepare this body to be worthy to be used in His service. I am no longer victim to the worry about my traits (that cause my failure to happen in the world arena) letting God down. These traits, "good" and "bad" are traits of the body. I no longer waste my prayers begging to be changed to the person who will be more capable to help heal the world, and coincidentally, be able to live in the world more productively. I am not a victim of illusions. I am what God needs. I am the Holy Son of God.

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