To perceive truly is to be aware of ALL reality through the awareness of
your own. But for this NO illusions can rise to meet your sight, for ALL
reality leaves no room for ANY error. This means that you perceive a
brother only as you see him NOW. His past has NO reality in the present,
and you CANNOT see it. YOUR past reactions to him are ALSO not there,
and if it is to them that you react NOW, you see but an image of him
which you made and cherish INSTEAD of him. In your questioning of
illusions, ask yourself if it is REALLY sane to perceive what WAS NOW.
If you remember the past as you look upon your brother, you will be
unable to perceive the reality that is NOW.

You consider it “natural” to use your past experience as the
reference point from which to JUDGE the present. Yet this is UNNATURAL
because it is delusional. When you have learned to look upon 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. For the
past can cast no shadow to darken the present UNLESS YOU ARE AFRAID OF
LIGHT. And only if you are would you choose to bring this darkness WITH
you, and by holding it in your minds, see it as a dark cloud that
shrouds your brothers and conceals their reality from your sight.

THIS DARKNESS IS IN YOU. The Christ revealed to you NOW has no past for
He is changeless, and in HIS changelessness lies YOUR release. For if He
is as He was created, there is no guilt in Him. No cloud of guilt has
risen to obscure Him, and He stands revealed in everyone you meet
because you see Him through HIMSELF. To be born again is to LET THE PAST
GO and look without condemnation upon the present. For the cloud which
obscures God’s Son to you IS the past, and if you would have it past AND
GONE, you must not see it NOW. If you see it now in your delusions it
has NOT gone from you, although it is not there.

Time can release as well as imprison, depending on whose interpretation
of it you use. Past, present and future are not continuous unless you
FORCE continuity on them. You can PERCEIVE them as continuous, and make
them so for YOU. But do not be deceived and then believe that this is
how it IS, for to believe that reality is what you would HAVE it be
according to your use for it IS delusional. You would destroy time’s
continuity by breaking it into past, present and future FOR YOUR OWN
PURPOSES. You would anticipate the future on the basis of your past
experience and plan for it accordingly. Yet 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.

The miracle enables you to see your brother WITHOUT his past, and so
perceive HIM as born again. His errors ARE all past, and by perceiving
him without them you are RELEASING him. And since his past is YOURS, you
SHARE in this release. Let 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. You have
looked for it where it is NOT, and therefore have not found it. Learn,
then, to seek it where it IS, and it will dawn on eyes that see. Your
past was made in anger, and if you use it to attack the present you will
not SEE the freedom that the present holds. Judgement and condemnation
are BEHIND you, and unless you bring them WITH you, you will see that
you ARE free of them.

Look lovingly upon the present, for it holds the ONLY things that are
forever true. All healing lies within it because ITS continuity is real.
It extends to all aspects of consciousness AT THE SAME TIME, and thus
enables them to reach EACH OTHER. The present is before time was, and
will be when time is no more. In it is everything that is eternal, and
they are one. Their continuity is timeless and their communication is
unbroken, for they are not separated by the past. Only the past CAN
separate, and IT is nowhere.

The present offers you your brothers in the light that would unite you
with them and free you FROM the past. Would you, then, hold the past
AGAINST them? For 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.
For the light of perfect vision is freely given as it is freely
received, and can be accepted only WITHOUT LIMIT. In this one, still
dimension of time, which 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. And THEY will not deny the truth in you
because you looked for it in them and FOUND it there.

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

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

Children of Light, you know not that the light is in you. Yet you will
find it through its witnesses, for having GIVEN light to them they will
RETURN it. Everyone you see in light brings YOUR light closer to your
OWN awareness. Love always leads to love. The sick, who ask for love,
are grateful for it, and in their joy they shine with holy thanks. And
this they offer you who GAVE them joy. They are your guides to joy, for
having received it of you they would keep it. You have established them
as guides to peace, for you have made it manifest in them. And seeing
it, its beauty calls YOU home.

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

Awakening unto Christ is following the laws of love of your free will,
and out of quiet recognition of the truth in them. The attraction of
light must draw you willingly, and willingness is signified by GIVING.
Those 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. In sleep you are
alone, and your awareness is narrowed to yourself. And that is why the
nightmares come. You dream of isolation BECAUSE your eyes are closed.
You do not SEE your brothers, and in the darkness you cannot look upon
the light you gave to them.

And yet the laws of love are not suspended because you sleep.
And you have followed them through all your nightmares, and have been
faithful in your giving, for you were NOT alone. Even in sleep has
Christ protected you, ensuring the real world for you when you wake. In
YOUR name He has given FOR you, and given YOU the gifts He gave. God’s
Son is still as loving as his Father. Continuous WITH his Father, he has
no past apart from Him. So he has never ceased to be his Father’s
witness AND HIS OWN. Although he slept, Christ’s vision did not leave
him. And so it is that he can call unto himself the witnesses that teach
him that he never slept.