Do you believe that truth can be but SOME illusions? They are dreams
BECAUSE they are not true. Their equal lack of truth becomes the basis
for the miracle, which means that you have understood that dreams are
dreams; and that escape depends, not on the dream, but only on awaking.
Could it be some dreams are kept, and others wakened from? The choice is
not between which dreams to keep, but only if you want to live in dreams
or to awaken from them. Thus it is the miracle does not select some
dreams to leave untouched by its beneficence. You cannot dream some
dreams and wake from some, for you are either sleeping or awake. And
dreaming goes with only one of these.

The dreams you think you like would hold you back as much as those in
which the fear is seen. For EVERY dream is but a dream of
fear, no matter what the form it seems to take. The fear is seen within,
without, or both. Or it can be disguised in pleasant form. But never is
it absent from the dream, for fear is the material of dreams from which
they all are made. Their form can change, but they cannot be made of
something else. The miracle were treacherous indeed if it allowed you
still to be afraid because you did not RECOGNIZE the fear. You would not
then be willing to awake, for which the miracle prepares the way.

In simplest form, it can be said attack is a response to function
unfulfilled as YOU perceive the function. It can be in you or someone
else, but where it is perceived it will be there it is attacked.
Depression or assault must be the theme of every dream, for they are
made of fear. The thin disguise of pleasure and of joy in which they may
be wrapped but slightly veils the heavy lump of fear which is their
core. And it is THIS the miracle perceives, and not the wrappings in
which it is bound.

When you are angry, is it not because someone has failed to fill the
function YOU allotted him? And does not this become the “reason” your
attack is justified? The dreams you think you like are those in which
the functions you have given have been filled; the needs which you
ascribe to you are met. It does not matter if they be fulfilled, or
merely wanted. It is the idea that they EXIST from which the fears
arise. Dreams are not wanted more or less. They are desired or not. And
each one represents some function which you have assigned; some goal
which an event, or body, or a thing SHOULD represent, and SHOULD achieve
for you. If it succeeds, you think you like the dream. If it should
fail, you think the dream is sad. But whether it succeeds or fails is
not its core, but just the flimsy covering.

How happy would your dreams become if you were NOT the one who gave the
“proper” role to every figure which the dream contains. No-one can fail
but your IDEA of him, and there is no betrayal BUT of this. The core of
dreams the Holy Spirit gives is NEVER one of fear. The coverings may not
appear to change, but what they mean HAS changed, because they cover
something else. Perceptions are determined by their purpose, in that
they seem to BE what they are FOR. A shadow figure who attacks becomes a
brother giving you a chance to help, if this becomes the function of the
dream. And dreams of sadness thus are turned to joy.

What IS your brother for? You do not know, because YOUR function is
obscure to you. Do not ascribe a role to him which you imagine would
bring happiness to you. And do not try to hurt him when he fails to take
the part which you assigned to him, in what you dream your life was
meant to be. He asks for help in every dream he has, and you have help
to give him if you see the function of the dream as He perceives its
function, Who can utilize all dreams as means to serve the function
given Him. Because He loves the dreamer, not the dream, each dream
becomes an offering of love. For at its center is His love for you,
which lights whatever form it takes with love.