Workbook · Part I
Lesson 198
Only my condemnation injures me.
What this lesson is saying
Today’s idea is: “Only my condemnation injures me.” In ordinary English: Only your condemnation injures you. Theirs cannot, unless you take the job.
A grievance is any thought that they have wronged you, failed you, or should be different so you can rest — or that you are not enough. Forgiveness here is not saying the event was fine. It is dropping the claim that the event gets to tell you what they are, or what you are. You can still leave. You can still say no. You stop using them as the reason you cannot be at peace.
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 asking you to be friends, to stay in harm, or to call a harm a blessing. Keep any clear no. The work is in the mind: stop raising the case as a shield.
Why this can change a day
The usual rule is: I will rest when they change. This lesson reverses it. The grievance is what hides peace, not their behavior. That is why a small irritation and a long history use the same mechanism, and why one dropped case can change a whole day.
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
Spiritual language tempts you to skip ordinary life — eat later, help later, leave the day.
What to do
Say the words as written: “Only my condemnation injures me.” Correct the reading. Stay in the day. Eat. Help. The ordinary hour is not the enemy of this lesson. The overlay is.
Toward yourself
Someone cut you off, a line did not move, a tone in a shop — a fictitious anger.
What to do
Say the words as written: “Only my condemnation injures me.” Name the official reason. Set it down. One breath without the story that they caused your aloneness. Then the next useful thing.
At work, at home, or in a situation
A meeting where you must get the story out first — armor, proving you cannot be hurt.
What to do
Say the words as written: “Only my condemnation injures me.” Notice the armor. You may still leave. You may still say no. You do not have to prosecute them to go.
Two voices in the same mind
Hear which one is running. Then today’s idea, on a real person — or on you.
Unloving thought
Existence is a mistake. Or: I should skip the picture and be spiritual. God made this mess.
Jesus’s way
“Only my condemnation injures me.” A grievance is any thought that they have wronged you, failed you, or should be different so you can rest. The miracle is already there. The grievance is the shield. Lay it down. You do not have to hang out with them.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #403
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 198
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.
- Only my condemnation injures me.
- The ledger against them is a weapon that only has your name on it.
- Drop the case.
- Keep the boundary if a boundary is love.
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 198 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: “Only my condemnation injures me.”
- Read the idea (and the prayer or specific form the official lesson gives). Spend the sitting in that idea.
- Say, slowly: “Only my condemnation injures me.”
- 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: “Only my condemnation injures me.”
When shaken
When the day’s idea is the medicine, use it on the actual situation, not later in a chair
- Say, slowly: “Only my condemnation injures me.”
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
Only my condemnation injures me. The ledger against them is a weapon that only has your name on it. Drop the grievance. Keep the boundary if a boundary is love.
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