Workbook · Part I
Lesson 135
If I defend myself I am attacked.
What this lesson is saying
“If I defend myself I am attacked.” Defense as identity is already the wound. It is the announcement that you are a body that can be hurt, a private self that must win to live.
He is not asking you to be a doormat. He is asking you to notice that armor, proving, the story that must get out first, the wish that they feel it — that is the attack, wearing protection’s face.
This is not saying
You may leave. You may say no. You may lock a door. A clear boundary is not the same as a prosecution. This lesson is about defense as who you are.
Why this can change a day
So many encounters are two armored people trying not to be hurt, and hurting each other to do it. Putting the armor down in the mind is how a conversation, a meeting, a family hour can be something else.
In your day
Same idea, three ordinary places — a relationship or encounter, the case against yourself, and a situation at work or at home. You do not need a special mood.
With someone
A meeting or a doorway where you must get the story out first — armor, proving you cannot be hurt.
What to do
Notice the armor. You may still leave. You may still say no. You do not have to prosecute them to go. Say the idea.
In a situation
You tighten in a conversation to stay safe — attack dressed as self-protection.
What to do
Notice the tightening. Drop the wish to strike. Keep any clear no.
Toward yourself
You defend a failing self against a thought, a photo, a memory.
What to do
If you defend that self you have already agreed you are it. Put the shield down. You are not the picture.
Two voices in the same mind
Hear which one is running. Then today’s idea, on a real person — or on you.
Unloving thought
If I defend myself I am safe. Armor up. Get the story out first. Defense is who I am in a world that can hurt me.
Jesus’s way
If I defend myself I am attacked. Defense is the announcement that you are a body that can be hurt. He is not asking you to be a doormat. He is asking you to notice that defense as identity is already the wound.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #336
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 135
Tina reads the official workbook lesson first. Then she channels. The video is the source. The notes below are study notes of that sitting — not a transcript, and not A Year of Forgiveness.
After the reading
In the video · Jesus speaking
This is the channeled portion — after Tina has read the lesson. Study notes of that sitting. Not a transcript.
- If I defend myself I am attacked.
- Defense is the announcement that you are a body that can be hurt.
- He is not asking you to be a doormat.
- He is asking you to notice that defense as identity is already the wound.
How to sit today
Part I · Forgiveness
The idea is above. This is the one sitting this number asks — how often, how long, and the words. Not a second lesson.
- How often
- Fifteen minutes twice, plus through the day when little things raise defensiveness
- How long
- Fifteen minutes twice
- When shaken
- When you start weaving plans as a defense, remind yourself this is a day of undefended rest.
How
- Rest from senseless planning. Receive instead of plan. Present yourself undefended to your Creator as you are.
Longer sitting
Two extended sittings — fifteen minutes twice is the standard for this stretch
- Today’s idea is: “If I defend myself I am attacked.”
- Read the idea (and the prayer or specific form the official lesson gives). Spend the sitting in that idea.
- Say, slowly: “If I defend myself I am attacked.”
- Let related thoughts come. Return to the idea when the mind wanders. Give the rest of the day to remembering it.
Short / hourly
A reminder on the hour — even a minute if that is all you have
- Say, slowly: “If I defend myself I am attacked.”
When shaken
When the day’s idea is the medicine, use it on the actual situation, not later in a chair
- Say, slowly: “If I defend myself I am attacked.”
These scripts follow the workbook’s own method for this number — duration, frequency, and the sentences it asks you to use. They are a study paraphrase, not a replacement. Read the official lesson at acim.org and follow any wording it gives that is more specific than this card.
Words you may not know
Full glossaryCourse words do not mean what church, psychology, or ordinary English usually mean. These notes are for this lesson — tap a word.
Other voices — Tina, Ra, Carla
Short notes from the four streams. The teaching above is the lesson. These are doors if you want them.
Spalding
If I defend myself I am attacked. Defense is the announcement that you are a body that can be hurt. He is not asking you to be a doormat. He is asking you to notice that defense as identity is already the wound.
Watch this lesson’s commentaryRa
This lesson is practice in polarizing with the person in front of you. Service to others is not a slogan. It is whether you treat them as the same being you are.
Open streamRueckert
A wanderer on Earth does not need a different lesson. She needs this one, done with her hands. Carla's whole archive is the proof: contact follows a life, it does not replace it.
Open stream