Workbook · Part II · What Is the Holy Spirit?
Lesson 281
I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.
What this lesson is saying
Today’s idea is: “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.” Nothing can hurt you but your thoughts. The world can knock the body. Only thought knocks the mind.
Part II is shorter on the page and longer in the sitting. The argument is over. You say the idea, you wait, then you meet whoever is in front of you. Keep the essay “What Is the Holy Spirit?” beside you until the next one is given. It is a sentence about you, not a new theory.
You do not have to feel it. Fear of sitting still, or of hearing a Voice, is often cultural. Note it. Listen anyway. Then the next person — or the next thought about yourself — is the application.
This is not saying
This is not a diploma and not a trance. Stay in your life. Eat. Rest. Help. The sitting is how you walk into the same work, home, and relationships with a mind that is not at war.
Why this can change a day
Most of what we call “the world is against me” is an attack thought looking for a target — a coworker, a stranger, a public face, ourselves. If the thought is the war, then putting it down is not weakness. It is how the room changes.
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 bill, a number, a job title — money treated as what you are worth.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.” Pay the bill. Eat. Rest. Then remember which law gets to tell you what you are. Care for the form. Do not worship it as identity.
Toward yourself
The victim story is running — this is happening to me, I have no say, anyone would tell this.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.” Same facts. Stop the telling for one hour. What would a non-victim do next — the honest no, the rest, the next useful step. Do that.
At work, at home, or in a situation
You are collecting evidence. The world is a courtroom. Someone should pay.
What to do
Say the words as written: “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.” Drop the wish that someone lose. If a fact must be stated — a bill, a boundary, a time — state only the fact.
Two voices in the same mind
Hear which one is running. Then today’s idea, on a real person — or on you.
Unloving thought
These are the real laws. If the picture does not change I am not okay. Spiritual ideas are for later, after this is won.
Jesus’s way
“I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.” Give up the wish to hurt. Attack and the fear of being attacked are the same thought. A fact can still be said. A door can still close. The wish is the wound.
Spalding · 2019 · episode #492
Jesus’s commentary for Lesson 281
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.
- Part II: after Tina reads, he asks you to sit with “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts,” then wait. Fear of hearing a Voice is named and not obeyed.
- Keep “What Is the Holy Spirit?” as a sentence about you, not as a new theory. Sit. Then whoever you meet is the application.
How to sit today
Part II · Restoration of sight
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 and night with God; hourly remembrance; whenever you are tempted to forget the goal
- How long
- Part II does not consider time a matter of duration. Use as much as you need for the result you desire. Continue as long as makes you happy
- Through the day
- Hourly remembrance between the longer times. Call to God when you have need of Him.
- When shaken
- Instead of fighting temptation, call. Instead of judging, be still and let all things be healed.
How
- Say the day’s simple words of welcome — the idea and the prayer in the official lesson. Then wait for Him to take the step to you that He promised.
- Words mean little now. They are guides you do not depend on. Seek direct experience. Sit silently and wait upon your Father.
- Slowly read “What Is the Holy Spirit?” and think about it a little while, preceding one of today’s holy instants. Continue that essay each day until the next one is given.
Longer sitting
Morning and night with God. No clock is set. Use as much time as you need for the result you want. Continue as long as makes you happy
- Today’s idea is: “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.”
- Say the day’s simple words of welcome — the idea, then the short prayer printed in the official lesson.
- Then wait. Words mean little now. They are guides you do not depend on. Sit silently and wait upon your Father.
- Do not turn the waiting into another technique for getting answers.
- Slowly read “What Is the Holy Spirit?” and think about it a little while, preceding one of today’s holy instants. Keep that essay until the next one is given.
Short / hourly
Hourly remembrance between the longer times
- A short return to today’s idea: “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.”. Then a still moment.
When shaken
Whenever you are tempted to forget the goal
- Instead of fighting temptation, call. Instead of judging, be still and let all things be healed.
- Say, slowly: “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.”
Do not turn the waiting into another technique for getting answers. The answers you already are can be noticed when the argument stops.
Keep the essay What Is the Holy Spirit? beside you until the next “What Is” is given.
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
Part II pairs a short idea with a What Is essay. Today’s essay is What Is the Holy Spirit?. Jesus through Tina uses “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts” as a sitting, not a speech: wait after the words. Fear of the inner Voice is cultural. Note the fear, then listen anyway.
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