Workbook · Part I
Lesson 187
I bless the world because I bless myself.
What this lesson is saying
Today’s idea is: “I bless the world because I bless myself.” In ordinary English: You bless the world because you bless yourself. The insult you keep is a curse you wear.
The idea is a sentence to use, not a theory to admire. It works where a story is running: a judgment of someone, a judgment of yourself, a belief that you are separate, an attack thought, a situation you have already decided about. Point the words there.
You do not have to believe it first. You use the words on one real judgment — of someone, of yourself, of a situation — and then you take the next ordinary step.
This is not saying
This is not a slogan for the day and not a request that you believe it first. Use it. Then take the next ordinary step — work, rest, a clear no, a kindness.
Why this can change a day
A spiritual idea that never touches a real person is how the ego stays in charge. Used on one encounter, it can undo a whole afternoon of ranking, defense, and self-attack.
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 political enemy, a public figure, a ‘them’ you have never met and already hate.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I bless the world because I bless myself.” No exceptions. You do not have to vote for them. You do have to drop the wish to hurt. The mind is the same mind.
Toward yourself
Spiritual language tempts you to skip ordinary life — eat later, help later, leave the day.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I bless the world because I bless myself.” Correct the reading. Stay in the day. Eat. Help. The ordinary hour is not the enemy of this lesson. The overlay is.
At work, at home, or in a situation
You are about to tell someone who will agree — lunch, a text, a ‘can you believe’.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I bless the world because I bless myself.” Leave their name out of it. The sitting is in the mind, not in the audience. Keep any boundary that is actually love.
Two voices in the same mind
Hear which one is running. Then today’s idea, on a real person — or on you.
Unloving thought
This one is exempt. The lesson is for private life. Hate here is sanity.
Jesus’s way
“I bless the world because I bless myself.” Use it on the unloving thought that is actually running. He will send you back to the next person with it.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #392
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 187
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.
- “I bless the world because I bless myself.” The world is a report of mind, a mishmash of relativity.
- He asks you to stop treating the drama as God, and to look with forgiving eyes at the same street.
- After Tina reads Lesson 187, the channeling is living “I bless the world because I bless myself.” He will not let it stay a slogan. Use these words. Do not swap them for a thought you like better.
How to sit today
Part I · Peace
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
- Morning sitting as Lesson 153 began it, plus hourly remembrance, plus when you are tempted to forget
- How long
- Five minutes is the least you give the morning sitting. Ten is better; fifteen better still. The evening pair matches. Hourly: even a minute if that is all you can offer
- Through the day
- When the hour strikes, remember. When you can, give more than a minute.
- When shaken
- When the day’s idea is the medicine, use it on the actual situation, not later in a chair.
- If you forget
- A lapse is not a failure story. Resume. Guilt about missing is another idle thought.
How
- Lesson 187 keeps the form begun in Lesson 153. Sit without armor. Read the idea (and the prayer if the lesson gives one). Then wait. Defenselessness is the method, not a mood.
- Do not throw the day away because an hour was forgotten. Return at the next hour.
Longer sitting
Two extended sittings — fifteen minutes twice is the standard for this stretch
- Today’s idea is: “I bless the world because I bless myself.”
- Read the idea (and the prayer or specific form the official lesson gives). Spend the sitting in that idea.
- Say, slowly: “I bless the world because I bless myself.”
- 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: “I bless the world because I bless myself.”
When shaken
When the day’s idea is the medicine, use it on the actual situation, not later in a chair
- Say, slowly: “I bless the world because I bless myself.”
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
“I bless the world because I bless myself.” The world is a report of mind, a mishmash of relativity. He does not ask you to despise it. He asks you to stop treating the drama as God, and to look with forgiving eyes at the same street.
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