Ego Quotes

Jump to: Ego, Egos, Egocentric, Egocentricity, Egoless, Egotistically

Quotes on "Ego"

T3F5 "Consciousness is correctly identified as the domain of the ego."

T3F5 "Jung was right indeed in insisting that the ego is NOT the self, and that the self should be regarded as an achievement."

T3F5 "In a sense, the ego was a man-made attempt to perceive himself as he wished, rather than as he IS."

T3F6 "The ego is the questioning compartment in the post-Separation psyche which man created for himself."

T3F12 "The ego did NOT arise out of the unconscious."

T3F14 "The ego is as frail as Freud perceived it."

T3F14 "Any attempt to endow the ego with the attributes of the Soul, is merely confused thinking."

T4A5 "He can speak from his Soul or from his ego, precisely as he chooses."

T4A5 "If he speaks from his ego, he is DISCLAIMING knowledge instead of AFFIRMING it, and is thus dis-spiriting himself."

T4A7 "The REAL point of his writing was that his "hero" was a man who perceived himself as unworthy because he identified with his ego and perceived its weakness."

T4A8 "Chesterton wrote an excellent description of Cervantes and his perception of his "unheroic hero," a view of man which the ego tolerates all too frequently, but the Soul NEVER countenances: "And he sees across a weary land a straggling road in Spain Up which a lean and foolish knight forever rides in vain.""

T4A9 "The ego may will them because the ego IS both lean and foolish."

T4A9 "It re-enacts the Separation, the loss of power, the foolish journey of the ego in its attempt at reparation, and finally the crucifixion of the body, or death."

T4B2 "Every symptom which the ego has made involves a contradiction in terms."

T4B2 "This is because the mind is split between the ego and the Soul, so that WHATEVER the ego makes is incomplete and contradictory."

T4B8 "You insist that if you allow no change to enter into your EGO, your SOUL will find peace."

T4B9 "NOTHING can reach the Soul from the ego, and nothing FROM the Soul can strengthen the ego, or reduce the conflict within it."

T4B9 "The ego IS a contradiction."

T4B9 "They are fundamentally irreconcilable because the Soul cannot perceive, and the ego cannot know."

T4B10 "Nevertheless the ego can learn, because its maker can be misguided, but CANNOT make the totally lifeless out of the life-given."

T4B10 "The Soul need not be taught, but the ego MUST."

T4B10 "The ultimate reason why learning or teaching is perceived as frightening is because true learning DOES lead to the relinquishment (NOT destruction) of the ego to the light of the Soul."

T4B10 "This is the change the ego MUST fear, because it does not share my charity."

T4B13 "You HAVE dreamed of a separated ego, and you HAVE believed in a world which rested upon it."

T4B15 "It is IMPOSSIBLE to convince the ego of this, because it goes against all of its own laws."

T4B15 "It is natural enough for the ego to try to protect itself, once YOU have made it."

T4B16 "The ego cannot make this choice because of the nature of its origin."

T4B16 "If you perceive a teacher as merely a "larger ego," you WILL be afraid, because to ENLARGE an ego IS to increase separation anxiety."

T4B17 "He is concerned with the effect of HIS ego on OTHER egos, and he therefore interprets their interaction as a means of ego preservation."

T4B21 "Your ego is NEVER at stake because God did not create it."

T4B22 "The teaching situation IS fearful if it is misused as an ego involvement."

T4B23 "The ego tries to exploit ALL situations into forms of praise for itself in order to overcome its doubts."

T4B23 "YOU are part of reality, which stands unchanged beyond the reach of your ego, but within easy reach of your Soul."

T4B24 "Do not let your ego dispute this, because the ego cannot know what is as far beyond its reach as you are."

T4B26 "The word "inevitable" is fearful to the ego, but joyous to the Soul."

T4B27 "The ego is afraid of the Soul's joy, because once you have experienced this, you will withdraw all protection from your ego and become totally without investment in fear."

T4B27 "Your investment is great now, because fear is a witness to the Separation, and your ego rejoices when you witness to it."

T4B29 "The ego has built a shabby and unsheltering home for you, because it cannot build otherwise."

T4B30 "God is as incapable of creating the perishable as your ego is of making the eternal."

T4B31 "Humility is a lesson for the ego, not for the Soul."

T4B33 "I will substitute for your ego if you will, but NEVER for your Soul."

T4B33 "The brother can protect the child's body and his ego, which are very closely associated, but he does not confuse HIMSELF with the father because he does this, although the child may."

T4B37 "B's course was very carefully chosen, because "abnormal psychology" IS ego psychology."

T4B37 "This is precisely the kind of content which should never be taught FROM the ego whose abnormality should be lessened by teaching, not increased."

T4C1 "Bill has asked lately how the mind could ever have made the ego."

T4C2 "Each man makes one ego for himself, although it is subject to enormous variation because of its instability, and one for everyone he perceives, which is equally variable."

T4C3 "THINKING about another ego is as effective in changing relative perception as is their physical interaction."

T4C3 "There could be no better example of the fact that the ego is an idea, though not a reality-based thought."

T4C3 "Your own present state is the best concrete example Bill could have of how the mind could have made the ego."

T4C5 "With full recognition of its transitory nature, (a recognition which I hope you both share), Helen offers a very good teaching example of alternations between Soul and ego, with concomitant variation between peace and frenzy."

T4C5 "Being incapable of appropriate concreteness perceptually, because her ego is not her natural home, she suffers from its intrusions, but NOT from complete lack of knowledge."

T4C6 "This was an attempt to see the concrete more clearly through the ego's eyes, without the "interference" of the longer range."

T4C7 "Man reacts to his ego much as God does to His Souls, -- with love, protection, and great charity."

T4C8 "The question is not HOW man responds toward his ego, but only what he believes he IS."

T4C8 "Again, belief is an ego-function, and as long as your origin is open to belief at all, you ARE regarding it from an ego viewpoint."

T4C8 "Belief DOES apply to me, because I am the teacher of the ego."

T4C9 "This is because it contains a hint of recognition that the ego is NOT the self."

T4C10 "Repression HAS been a stronger mechanism in your own ego defense, and that is why you find her shifts so hard to tolerate."

T4C10 "What better plan could have been devised to prevent the intrusion of the ego's arrogance on the outcome?"

T4C11 "Undermining the foundation of an ego's thought-system MUST be perceived as painful, even though this is anything but true."

T4C15 ""Giving to get" is an inescapable law of the ego, which ALWAYS evaluates itself in relation to others' egos, and is therefore continually preoccupied with the scarcity principle which gave rise to it."

T4C15 "Freud was the most accurate "ego psychologist" we ever had, although he would not have preferred this description himself."

T4C15 "His ego was a very weak and deprived concept, which could function ONLY as a thing in need."

T4C16 "The "reality principle" of the ego is not real at all."

T4C17 ""Self esteem," in ego terms, means nothing more than that the ego has deluded itself into accepting its reality and is therefore temporarily less predatory."

T4C17 "This "self esteem" is ALWAYS vulnerable to stress, a term which really means that a condition has arisen in which the delusion of reality of the ego is threatened."

T4C17 "The ego literally lives by comparisons."

T4C18 "The ego NEVER gives out of abundance, because it was made as a SUBSTITUTE for it."

T4C18 "This is why the concept of GETTING arose in the ego's thought-system."

T4C18 "All appetites are "getting" mechanisms representing ego needs to confirm itself."

T4C18 "This is as true of bodily appetites as it is of the so-called "higher" ego needs."

T4C18 "Bodily appetites are NOT physical in origin, because the ego regards the body as its home, and DOES try to satisfy itself through the body."

T4C18 "But the IDEA that this is possible is a decision of the ego, which is completely confused about what is really possible."

T4C19 "The ego DOES believe it is completely on its own, which is merely another way of describing how it originated."

T4C19 "The ego is free to complete the stem: "When I was completely on my own" in any way it chooses, but it is NOT free to consider the validity of the premise itself, because this premise is its FOUNDATION."

T4C19 "The ego IS the belief of the mind that it is completely on its own."

T4C20 "The ego's ceaseless attempts to gain the Soul's acknowledgement and thus establish its own existence are utterly useless."

T4C20 "The Soul in its knowledge is unaware of the ego."

T4C20 "It does NOT attack the ego."

T4C20 "While the ego is equally unaware of the Soul, it DOES perceive itself as rejected by something which is greater than itself."

T4C20 "This is why self-esteem in ego terms MUST be a delusion."

T4C21 "Myths and magic are closely associated, in that myths are usually related to the ego origins, and magic to the powers which the ego ascribes to itself."

T4C22 "The "battle for survival" is nothing more than the ego's struggle to preserve itself and its interpretation of its own beginning."

T4C22 "This beginning is always associated with physical birth, because nobody maintains that the ego existed before that point in time."

T4C23 "The ego cannot survive without judgment, and is laid aside accordingly."

T4C24 "Reliable behavior is a meaningful perception, as far as ego thinking goes."

T4C26 "EVERY idea which the ego has accorded the status of fact is questionable, because facts are in the realm of knowledge."

T4C26 "This is why psychologists are concentrating increasingly on the ego, in an attempt to unify their clearly unrelated data."

T4C27 "We have already credited the ego with considerable ingenuity, though not with creativeness."

T4D1 "The reason you cannot understand it is because it is NOT understandable to the ego, which interprets it as if something outside is inside, which does not mean anything."

T4D2 "The Christ Mind wills from the Soul, not from the Ego, and the Christ Mind IS yours."

T4D3 "It has not ceased to create because your ego has set you on the road of perception."

T4D3 "Your ego and your Soul will never be co-creators, but your Soul and YOUR Creator will ALWAYS be."

T4D3 "The Kingdom is perfectly united and perfectly protected, and the ego will not prevail against it."

T4D5 "In its characteristic upside down way, the ego has taken the impulses from the superconscious and perceives them as if they arise in the unconscious."

T4D5 "The ego judges what is to be accepted, and the impulses from the superconscious are unacceptable to it, because they clearly point to the unexistence of the ego itself."

T4D5 "The ego therefore experiences threat, and not only censors but also re-interprets the data."

T4D6 "Repression thus operates to conceal not only the baser impulses, but also the most lofty ones from the ego's awareness, because BOTH are threatening to the ego and, being concerned primarily with its preservation in the face of threat, it perceives them as the same."

T4D6 "The threat value of the lofty is really much greater to the ego, because the pull of God Himself can hardly be equated with the pull of human appetites."

T4D7 "By perceiving them as the same, the ego attempts to save itself from being swept away, as it would surely be in the presence of knowledge."

T4D7 "The ego cannot tolerate either and represses both by resorting to inhibition."

T4D8 "My role is to separate the true from the false in your own unconscious, so it can break through the barriers the ego has set up and shine into your minds."

T4D8 "Against our united strength, the ego CANNOT prevail."

T4D9 "It should be quite apparent to you by now why the ego regards the Soul as its "enemy.""

T4D9 "The ego arose from the Separation, and its continued existence depends on your continuing belief in the Separation."

T4D9 "Reducing the Soul impulses to the unconscious, the ego has to offer you some sort of reward for maintaining this belief."

T4D10 "No one who has experienced the revelation of this can ever fully believe in the ego again."

T4D11 "Being made out of the denial of the Father, the ego has no allegiance to its own Maker."

T4D12 "No human love is without this ambivalence, and since no ego has experienced love WITHOUT ambivalence, the concept is beyond its understanding."

T4D12 "This means that it wants it WITHOUT ambivalence, and this kind of wanting is wholly without the ego's "drive to get.""

T4D13 "There is a kind of experience that is so different from anything the ego can offer that you will never recover."

T4D14 "This is not the condition as the ego sets conditions."

T4D21 "In your own unconscious, deeply repressed by the ego, is the declaration of your release."

T4D21 "This is the one fact which MEANS that the ego does not exist, and which therefore makes it profoundly afraid."

T4D21 "In the ego's language, to have and to be are different, but they are identical to the Soul."

T4D22 "The calm being of God's Kingdom, which in your sane mind is perfectly conscious, is ruthlessly banished from the part of the mind which the ego rules."

T4D22 "The ego is desperate because it opposes literally invincible odds whether you are asleep or awake."

T4D22 "Consider how much vigilance you have been willing to exert to protect your ego, and how little you have been willing to exert to protect your higher mind."

T4E1 "The fact that you DO listen to the voice of your ego is demonstrated by your attitudes, your feelings, and your behavior."

T4E2 "The glass in which the ego seeks to see its face is dark indeed."

T4E4 "In every case you have thought wrongly about some Soul that God created, and are perceiving images your ego makes in a darkened glass."

T4E5 "Denying this and thinking otherwise has held your ego together, but has literally split your mind."

T4E7 "When you are anxious, KNOW that all anxiety comes from the capriciousness of the ego, and NEED NOT BE."

T4E7 "You can be as vigilant AGAINST the ego's dictates as FOR them."

T4E8 "When you feel guilty, KNOW that your ego has indeed violated the laws of God, but YOU have not."

T4E8 "Leave the sins of the ego to me."

T4E8 "But until you change your mind about those your ego has hurt, the Atonement cannot release you."

T4E8 "As long as you feel guilty, your ego is in command, because only the ego CAN experience guilt."

T4E9 "You, Helen, have been more honest that Bill in really trying to see whom your ego has hurt, and also in trying to change your mind about them."

T4E9 "I am not unmindful of your efforts, but you still have much too much energy invested in your ego."

T4E9 "Watch your minds for the temptations of the ego, and do not be deceived by it."

T4E10 "Because your ego WAS protected by this unfortunate negative attribute, you are afraid to abandon it."

T4E11 "But you are not sufficiently vigilant against the demands of your ego that you disengage yourself."

T4E12 "The disheartened are useless to themselves and to me, but only the ego can be disheartened."

T4E13 "Your mind and mine can unite in shining your ego away, and releasing the strength of God into everything you think and will and do."

T4E14 "The ego SHOULD be brought to your own judgment and found wanting there."

T4E15 "Judge your ego truly, and you MUST withdraw allegiance, protection, and love from it."

T4E15 "To the ego's dark glass you need but say, "I will not look there because I KNOW these images are not true.""

T4E16 "Your ego cannot prevent HIM from shining on you, but it CAN prevent you from letting Him shine THROUGH you."

T4E17 "The SECOND coming of Christ means nothing more than the end of the ego's rule over part of the minds of men, and the healing of the mind."

T4E20 "While I am not attacking your egos, I AM working with your higher mind whether you are asleep or awake, (just as your ego does with your lower mind.)"

T4F1 "There are NO exceptions except in the ego's judgment."

T4F1 "Control is a central factor in what the ego permits into consciousness, and one to which it devotes its maximum vigilance."

T4F2 "The ego is further off balance by keeping its primary motivation UNconscious, and raising control rather than sensible judgment to predominance."

T4F2 "Sane judgment would inevitably judge AGAINST it, and MUST be obliterated by the ego in the interest of its self-preservation."

T4F3 "A crucial source of the ego's off-balance state is its lack of discrimination between impulses from God and from the body."

T4F3 "Yet this demented state is ESSENTIAL to the ego, which judges ONLY in terms of threat or non-threat TO ITSELF."

T4F4 "In one sense, the ego's fear of the idea of God is at least logical, because this idea DOES dispel it."

T4F4 "Fear of dissolution from the higher source, then, makes SOME sense in ego terms."

T4F4 "But fear of the body, with which the ego identifies so closely, is more blatantly senseless."

T4F4 "The body is the ego's home by its own election."

T4F5 "Yet the ego hates the body, because it does not accept the idea that the body is good enough as its home."

T4F5 "Being told by the ego that it is really part of the body, and that the body is its protector, it is also constantly informed that the body can NOT protect it."

T4F6 "to which the ego replies, "Turn to me.""

T4F6 "The mind, and not without cause, reminds the ego that it has itself insisted that it IS identified with the body, so there is no point in turning to it for protection."

T4F6 "The ego has no real answer to this because there ISN'T any."

T4F12 "The ego thinks it is an advantage not to commit itself to ANYTHING that is eternal, because the eternal MUST come from God."

T4F13 "Eternalness is the one function that the ego has tried to develop, but has systematically failed."

T4F13 "It may surprise you to learn that had the ego willed to do so, it COULD have made the eternal, because, as a product of the mind, it IS endowed with the power of its own creator."

T4F13 "But the DECISION to do this, rather than the ABILITY to do it is what the ego cannot tolerate."

T4F13 "That is because the decision, from which the ability would naturally develop, would necessarily involve true perception, a state of clarity which the ego, fearful of being judged truly, MUST avoid."

T4F14 "The ego has reacted characteristically here as elsewhere, because mental illness, which is ALWAYS a form of ego-involvement, is not a problem of reliability as much as of validity."

T4F14 "The ego compromises with the issue of the eternal, just as it does with all issues that touch on the real question in ANY way."

T4F15 "The ego has also countenanced some strange compromises with the idea of the eternal, making odd attempts to relate the concept to the unimportant in an effort to satisfy the mind without jeopardizing itself."

T4F16 "Ideational preoccupations with conceptual problems set up to be incapable of solution are another favorite ego device for impeding the strong-willed from real progress in learning."

T4F16 "The idea of preserving the body by suspension, thus giving it the kind of limited immortality which the ego can tolerate, is among its more recent appeals to the mind."

T4F18 "Psychologists are in a good position to realize that the ego is capable of making and accepting as real some very distorted associations which are not true."

T4F19 "These relatively minor confusions of the ego are not among its more profound misassociations, although they DO reflect them."

T4G5 ""A little knowledge" is not dangerous except to the ego."

T4G5 "Vaguely the ego senses threat, and, being unable to realize that "a little knowledge" is a meaningless phrase because "all" and "a little" in this context are the same, decides that since "all" is impossible, the fear does not lie in this."

T4G5 ""A little," however, is a scarcity concept, and this the ego understands well."

T4G6 "The essential thing to remember always is that the ego DOES NOT RECOGNIZE the real source of its perceived threat."

T4G6 "And if YOU associate yourself WITH the ego, YOU do not perceive the whole situation as it really is."

T4G6 "Only your allegiance to it gives the ego ANY power over you."

T4G6 "We have spoken of the ego as if it were a separate thing, acting on its own."

T4G7 "The ego is nothing more than a PART of your belief about yourselves."

T4G10 "The ego cannot withstand the conditioning process, because the process itself DEMONSTRATES that there is another way."

T4G12 "Since this recognition is made by YOU and NOT by your ego, the recognition ITSELF establishes that you and your ego CANNOT be identical."

T4G12 "The very fact that you are preoccupied with the idea of escaping FROM the ego shows this."

T4G13 "You cannot escape from the ego by humbling it, or controlling it, or punishing it."

T4G13 "The ego and the Soul DO NOT KNOW each other."

T4G13 "Having done this, it utilizes repression against all truly natural impulses, not because the EGO is a separate thing, but because you want to believe that YOU are."

T4G13 "The ego is a device for maintaining this belief, but it is still only YOUR willingness to use the device that enables it to endure."

T4G14 "You have been chosen to live so as to demonstrate that You are NOT an ego."

T4G24 "I am conditioning you to associate misery with the ego, and joy with your Soul."

T4G24 "But can you really WANT the rewards of the ego in the presence of the rewards of God?"

T4H2 "The concrete part is the same part that believes in the ego, because the ego DEPENDS on the specific."

T4H2 "Everything the ego perceives is a separate whole, without the relationships that imply BEING."

T4H2 "The ego is thus AGAINST communication, except in so far as it is utilized to ESTABLISH separateness, rather than to abolish it."

T4H3 "The communication system of the ego is based on its own thought-system, as is everything else it dictates."

T4H3 "For example, although all forms of perceived demands may be classified (or judged) by the ego as coercive communication which must be disrupted, the response of breaking communication will nevertheless be to a SPECIFIC PERSON or persons."

T4H4 "The specificity of the ego's thinking, then, results in a spurious kind of generalization, which is really not abstract at all."

T4H9 "He has no ego with which to accept thanks, and no perceptions with which to judge your offerings."

T4I1 "The medical orientation emphasizes the body, and the vocational orientation stresses the ego."

T4I1 "The team approach generally leads more to confusion than anything else, because it is too often misused as an expedient for sharing the ego's dominion with other ego's rather than as a real experiment in cooperation of minds."

T4I3 "You have a fear of broken bodies, because your ego cannot tolerate them."

T4I3 "Your ego cannot tolerate ego-weakness, either, without ambivalence, because it is afraid of its own weakness and the weakness of its chosen home."

T4I4 "Your ego is threatened, and blocks your natural impulse to help, placing you under the strain of divided will."

T4I4 "You withdraw to allow your ego to recover, and to regain enough strength to be helpful again on a basis limited enough NOT to threaten your ego, but also too limited to give YOU joy."

T4I5 "Those with broken bodies are often looked down on by the ego, because of its belief that nothing but a perfect body is worthy as its OWN temple."

T4I7 "Rehabilitation is NOT concerned with the ego's fight for control, nor the ego's need to avoid and withdraw."

T5B4 "If you can accept the concept that the world IS one of ideas, the whole belief in the false association which the ego has made between giving and LOSING is gone."

T5C10 "When man made the ego, God placed in him the call of joy."

T5C10 "This call is so strong that the ego always dissolves at its sound."

T5E5 "What he was really saying was that he would NOT look at you through HIS ego, or perceive YOUR ego in you."

T5E6 "By adopting the ego's viewpoint, you undertook an ego-alien journey WITH THE EGO AS GUIDE."

T5E7 "Delay is of the ego, because time is ITS concept."

T5E7 "We have said before that the Holy Spirit is God's answer to the ego."

T5E7 "Everything of which the Holy Spirit reminds you is in direct opposition to the ego's notions, because true and false perceptions are THEMSELVES opposed."

T5E7 "The Holy Spirit has the task of UNDOING what the ego has made."

T5E7 "It must undo it in the same realm of discourse in which the ego itself operates, or the mind would be unable to understand the change."

T5E7 "So it is with the ego and the soul, and with time and eternity."

T5E8 "Time is a belief of the ego, so the lower mind, which IS the ego's domain, accepts it without question."

T5E8 "The literal nature of this statement does not mean anything to the ego."

T5E9 "The Holy Spirit is the mediator between the interpretations of the ego and the knowledge of the Soul."

T5E9 "Its ability to deal with symbols enables it to work AGAINST the ego's beliefs in its own language."

T5E10 "It can thus perform the function of RE-INTERPRETING what the ego makes, not by destruction, but by understanding."

T5E11 "This vision invariably frightens the ego, because it is so calm."

T5E11 "Peace is the ego's greatest enemy, because according to ITS interpretation of reality, war is the guarantee of its survival."

T5E11 "The ego becomes strong in strife because if you believe there is strife, you will react viciously because the idea of danger has entered your mind."

T5E11 "This idea itself IS an appeal to the ego."

T5E12 "The Holy Spirit is as vigilant as the ego to the call of danger, opposing it with ITS strength just as the ego WELCOMES it with all its might."

T5E13 "The ego is the symbol of the Separation, just as the Holy Spirit is the symbol of peace."

T5E14 "Despite the ego's attempts to conceal this part, it is still much stronger than the ego, even though the ego does not recognize it."

T5E15 "The ego made the world as IT perceives it, but the Holy Spirit, the RE-INTERPRETER of what the ego made, sees it only as a teaching device for bringing you home."

T5F5 "What the ego makes it KEEPS TO ITSELF, and so it is without strength."

T5F6 "Neurotic guilt feelings are a device of the ego for "atoning" without sharing, and for asking for pardon without change."

T5F6 "The ego NEVER calls for real atonement, and cannot tolerate real forgiveness, which IS change."

T5F9 "If you are part of God, and the Sonship is one, you CANNOT be limited to the self the ego sees."

T5F9 "Your ego can keep you in exile FROM the Kingdom but in the Kingdom itself it has no power."

T5F10 "You have become willing to receive my messages as I give them, without interference by the ego, so we can clarify an earlier point which was mentioned before."

T5F12 "The ego cannot prevail against the Kingdom BECAUSE it is united, and the ego fades away and is undone in the presence of the attraction of the parts of the Sonship which hear the call of the Holy Spirit to be as One."

T5G1 "Perhaps this will become clearer and more personally meaningful if the ego's use of guilt is clarified."

T5G1 "The ego has a purpose, just as the Holy Spirit has."

T5G1 "The ego's purpose is FEAR, because only the fearful can be egotistic."

T5G1 "The ego's logic is as impeccable as that of the Holy Spirit, because your mind has all the means at its disposal to side with Heaven or earth, as it elects."

T5G2 "This makes it invulnerable to the ego, because its peace is unassailable."

T5G3 "If the ego is the symbol of the separation, it is also the symbol of guilt."

T5G3 "This is a totally meaningless concept EXCEPT to the ego, but do not underestimate the power of the ego's belief in it."

T5G4 "The ego IS the part of the mind which believes in division."

T5G4 "The ego believes that this is what YOU did, because it believes it IS you."

T5G4 "It follows, then, that if you identify WITH the ego, you MUST perceive yourself as guilty."

T5G5 "Whenever you respond to your ego, you WILL experience guilt, and you WILL fear punishment."

T5G5 "The ego is quite literally a fearful thought."

T5G5 "And however ridiculous the idea of attacking God may be to the sane mind, never forget that the ego is NOT SANE."

T5G5 "Listening to the ego's voice MEANS that you believe it is possible to attack God."

T5G7 "If you enthrone the ego in it, the fact that you have accepted it, or allowed it to enter, MAKES IT YOUR REALITY."

T5G8 "The ego does not perceive sin as a lack of love."

T5G8 "The ego regards this as doom, but YOU must learn to regard it as freedom."

T5G9 "The ego believes that by punishing ITSELF, it will mitigate the punishment of God."

T5G10 "The ego cannot OPPOSE the laws of God, any more than YOU can."

T5G11 "The Holy Spirit, like the ego, is a decision."

T5G11 "The ego and the Holy Spirit are the ONLY choices which are open to you."

T5H3 "This IS the ego's continuity, and gives it a false sense of security through the belief that you cannot escape from it."

T5H5 "What you do not understand is that the two voices speak for different interpretations of the same thing simultaneously, or almost simultaneously, for the ego always speaks first."

T5H5 "Alternate interpretations are unnecessary until the first one has been made, and speaking itself was unnecessary before the ego was made."

T5H5 "The ego speaks in judgment, and the Holy Spirit reverses its decisions, much as the Supreme Court has the power to reverse the lower court's decision about the laws of this world."

T5H6 "The ego's decisions are ALWAYS wrong, because they are based on a complete fallacy which they are made to uphold."

T5H6 "The Bible is a fearful thing to the ego, because of its prejudiced judgment."

T5H7 "We need cite only a few examples to see how the ego's interpretations have mislead you."

T5H7 "A favorite ego quotation is "As ye sow, so shall ye reap.""

T5H10 ""I will visit the sins of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation," as interpreted by the ego, is particularly vicious."

T5H11 "Every loveless thought MUST be undone, and even the word "undone" is fearful to the ego, which interprets "I am undone" as "I am destroyed.""

T5H11 "The ego will NOT be destroyed, because it is part of YOUR thought."

T5H12 "The part of your thought which you have given TO the ego will merely return to the Kingdom, where your whole mind BELONGS."

T5H12 "The ego is a form of ARREST, but arrest is merely delay."

T5H12 "It does NOT involve the concept of police at all, although the ego welcomes that interpretation."

T5H13 "Remember the symbolic reference we made before to the ego's dark glass, and remember also that we said "Do not look there.""

T5I14 "Excluding yourself from the Atonement is the ego's last-ditch defense of its own existence."

T5I14 "It reflects both the ego's need to separate, and your willingness to side with its separateness."

T6B10 "I elected, both for your sake AND mine, to demonstrate that the most outrageous assault, as judged by the ego, did not matter."

T6B19 "As such, it is the perfect symbol of conflict between the ego and the Son of God."

T6C3 "It is solely a device of the ego to make you feel DIFFERENT from your brothers and separated FROM them."

T6C3 "The ego justifies this on the wholly spurious grounds that it makes you seem better than they are, thus obscuring equality WITH them still further."

T6C4 "The ego uses projection ONLY to distort your perception of both yourself AND your brothers."

T6C5 "Every ability of the ego has a better counterpart, because its abilities are directed by the mind, which has a better voice."

T6C5 "The Holy Spirit, as well as the ego, utilizes projection but since their goals are opposed, so is the result."

T6C7 "The ego's perception has no counterpart in God, but the Holy Spirit remains the bridge between perception and knowledge."

T6C8 "The ego prefers to believe that parallel lines do not meet, and conceives of their meeting as impossible."

T6C11 "The ego CANNOT prevail against this, because it is an explicit statement that the EGO never occurred."

T6C12 "The ego can accept the idea that RETURN is necessary, because it can so easily make the idea seem so difficult."

T6C14 "The difference between the ego's use of projection and projection as the Holy Spirit uses it is very simple."

T6C14 "The ego projects to EXCLUDE and therefore to deceive."

T6C15 "The ego is legion, but the Holy Spirit is one."

T6D2 "The word "knows" is correct here, even though the ego does NOT know, and is not concerned with BEING at all."

T6D2 "The ego never was and never will be part of it."

T6D3 "But through the ego you CAN hear and learn and teach and project WHAT IS NOT TRUE."

T6D6 "Since you cannot NOT teach, your salvation lies in teaching exactly the opposite of EVERYTHING THE EGO BELIEVES."

T6E1 "The ego always speaks first, because it is capricious and does NOT mean its maker well."

T6E1 "The ego does NOT regard itself as part of you."

T6E2 "But YOU made the ego without love, and so it does not love YOU."

T6E2 "This enables the ego to regard itself as SEPARATE AND OUTSIDE ITS MAKER, thus speaking for the part of your mind that believes YOU are separate and outside the Mind of God."

T6E3 "The ego, then, raised the first question that was ever asked, but it can never answer it."

T6E3 "The ego has never answered ANY questions since, though it has raised a great many."

T6E3 "The most inventive activities of the ego have never done more than OBSCURE THE QUESTION, because you HAVE the answer, and THE EGO IS AFRAID OF YOU."

T6E3 "You cannot really understand conflict until YOU fully understand one basic fact that the ego does not know."

T6E4 "The ego cannot hear the Holy Spirit, but it DOES feel that part of the same mind that made it is AGAINST it."

T6E4 "The ego believes that the best defense is attack, and WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE THIS."

T6E4 "And the ego feels badly in need of allies, though not of brothers."

T6E5 "Perceiving something alien to itself in your MIND, the ego turns to the body, NOT the mind as its ally BECAUSE the body is not part of you."

T6E5 "This makes the body the ego's friend."

T6E5 "The ego and the body conspire AGAINST your minds, and because they realize that their "enemy" CAN end them both merely by knowing they are not part of him, they join in the attack together."

T6E5 "The ego, which is not real, attempts to persuade the mind, which IS real, that it IS its own learning device, and that the learning device is more real than IT is."

T6E6 "Hear, then, the one answer of the Holy Spirit to ALL the questions which the ego raises."

T6E6 "Your dreams have contained many of the ego's symbols, and they have confused you."

T6E12 "This is the kind of reasoning that the ego engages in, but God, who KNOWS that His creations are perfect does NOT insult them."

T6E12 "This would be as impossible as the ego's notion that it has insulted Him."

T6E14 "A harsh and strident form of communication arose as the ego's voice."

T6F7 "When your body and your ego and your dreams are gone, you will know that YOU will last forever."

T6F7 "Like any other impossible solution which the ego attempts, IT WILL NOT WORK."

T6F8 "Again, as always, it re-interprets what the ego uses as an argument FOR separation into an argument AGAINST it."

T6F12 "The ego uses the body for attack, for pleasure, and for pride."

T6G5 "Still strongly aware of the ego in himself, and responding primarily TO the ego in others, he is being taught to react to BOTH as if what he DOES believe IS NOT TRUE."

T6G6 "Upside down as always, the ego perceives the first lesson as insane."

T6G6 "The ego's judgment, then, is predetermined by what it IS, though not more so than is any other product of thought."

T6G9 "The ego tries to persuade you that it is up to YOU to decide which voice is true."

T6H2 "But what you must remember is that what the Holy Spirit REJECTS the ego ACCEPTS."

T6H2 "The ego's beliefs on this crucial issue vary, and that is why it promotes different moods."

T6H5 "We said already that you can be as vigilant AGAINST the ego as FOR it."

T6H10 "The ego speaks AGAINST His Creation, and therefore DOES engender doubt."

T7B1 "The ego demands RECIPROCAL rights, because it is competitive rather than loving."

T7C5 "The term "intraPERSONAL" is an ego term, because "personal" implies of ONE person, and NOT of others."

T7D4 "This is because abilities began with the ego, which perceived them as a POTENTIAL FOR EXCELLING."

T7D4 "This is how the ego STILL perceives them and uses them."

T7D4 "The Holy Spirit teaches YOU to use what the ego has made to TEACH the opposite of what the ego has LEARNED."

T7D5 "The fact that this was NOT the ego's reason for learning is totally irrelevant."

T7D5 "He ADAPTS the ego's potentials for excelling to potentials for EQUALIZING."

T7D5 "This makes them USELESS for the ego's purpose, but VERY useful for His."

T7D7 "To the ego there appears to be no connection, because the EGO is discontinuous."

T7E1 "This is WHY the ego is insane; it teaches that you are NOT what you ARE."

T7E1 "You MUST, then, be teaching SOMETHING ELSE AS WELL, even though the ego DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS."

T7E2 "The ego, then, IS always being undone, and DOES suspect your motives."

T7E2 "Your mind CANNOT be unified in allegiance to the ego, because the mind does NOT BELONG to it."

T7E2 "But what is "treacherous" to the ego IS faithful to peace."

T7E2 "The ego's "enemy" is therefore YOUR friend."

T7E2 "We said before that the ego's friend is not part of you but that is because the ego perceives itself as at war and therefore in need of allies."

T7E7 "This can ONLY be the voice of the ego."

T7E9 "When you heal, you are REMEMBERING THE LAWS OF GOD and FORGETTING the laws of the ego."

T7E10 "This is the way in which the ego tries to use ALL abilities, because its goal is ALWAYS to make YOU believe that YOU are in opposition."

T7E11 "The ego's goal is as unified as the Holy Spirit's, and it is BECAUSE of this that their goals can NEVER be reconciled in ANY way or to ANY extent."

T7E11 "The ego ALWAYS seeks to divide and separate."

T7E12 "The ego believes that it HAS this ability, and can offer this ability to YOU as a gift."

T7E13 "Healing is a way of FORGETTING the sense of danger that the ego has induced in YOU by not recognizing its existence in your brothers."

T7F1 "The effects of the ego's decision in this matter are so apparent that they need no elaboration here."

T7F2 "Since the ego CANNOT obliterate the impulse to communicate because it is also the impulse to CREATE, it can only try to teach you that the BODY can both communicate AND create, and therefore DOES NOT NEED THE MIND."

T7F2 "The ego, then, tries to teach you that the body can ACT like the mind, and therefore IS self-sufficient."

T7F3 "He recognizes no other, because he does NOT accept the ego's confusion of mind and body."

T7F3 "The body in the service of the ego can hurt other BODIES, but this CANNOT occur UNLESS the body has ALREADY been confused WITH the mind."

T7F5 "However misguided the "magical healer" may be, and however much he may be trying to strengthen his ego, HE IS ALSO TRYING TO HELP."

T7F10 "But YOU think that you HAVE changed it, as long as you learn through the ego."

T7F11 "But by changing your mind about HIS FOR him, you help him undo the change his ego thinks it has made in him."

T7F12 "The ego is totally unable to understand this, because it does NOT understand what it makes."

T7G1 "They make or create depending on whether the ego or the Holy Spirit begets or inspires them, but they WILL return to the mind of the thinker, and they WILL affect his total perception."

T7G3 "The ingeniousness of the ego to preserve itself is enormous, but it stems from the power of the mind WHICH THE EGO DENIES."

T7G3 "This means that the ego attacks WHAT IS PRESERVING IT, and this MUST be a source of extreme anxiety."

T7G3 "The ego draws upon the one source which is totally inimitable to its existence FOR its existence."

T7G4 "Remaining logical but still insane, the ego resolves this completely insane dilemma in a completely insane way."

T7G4 "The ego CANNOT AFFORD TO KNOW ANYTHING."

T7G4 "Knowledge is total, and the ego DOES NOT BELIEVE IN TOTALITY."

T7G4 "This unbelief is its own origin, and while the ego does not love YOU, it IS faithful to its own antecedent, begetting as it was begotten."

T7G5 "Produced by fear, the ego REproduces fear."

T7G5 "Love IS your power, which the ego MUST deny."

T7G5 "No-one who has everything WANTS the ego."

T7G5 "Rejection is therefore the only decision which the ego could POSSIBLY encounter if the mind which made it knew ITSELF."

T7G6 "The ego therefore opposes ALL appreciation, ALL recognition, ALL sane perception, and ALL knowledge."

T7G9 "We have repeatedly emphasized that the ego DOES believe it can attack God, and tries to persuade you that YOU have done this."

T7G9 "If the mind CANNOT attack, the ego proceeds perfectly logically to the position that YOU cannot be mind."

T7G9 "Aware of its weakness, the ego wants your allegiance, but NOT as you really are."

T7G9 "The ego therefore wants to engage your mind in its OWN delusional system, because otherwise the light of YOUR understanding WILL dispel it."

T7G10 "The ego wants no part of truth, because the truth is that IT is not true."

T7G11 "The ego believes THIS totally, being fully committed TO it."

T7G11 "The ego is therefore totally committed to UNtruth, perceiving in total contradiction to the Holy Spirit and to the knowledge of God."

T7G13 "That is all the world of the ego is."

T7H10 "This is the ultimate basis for ALL of the ego's projection."

T7H12 "Perceive ANY part of the ego's thought system as wholly insane, wholly delusional, and wholly undesirable, and you have CORRECTLY EVALUATED ALL OF IT."

T7H12 "The gifts you offer to the ego are ALWAYS experienced as sacrifices."

T7I1 "To the ego, the law is perceived as a way of getting RID of something it does NOT want."

T7I2 "To the ego, it is the law of deprivation."

T7I2 "The ego's use of projection must be fully understood before the INEVITABLE association between projection and anger can be finally UNmade."

T7I3 "The ego ALWAYS tries to preserve conflict."

T7I3 "The ego, using its own warped version of the laws of God, uses the power of the mind ONLY to defeat the mind's real purpose."

T7I6 "That is why those who project from the ego are vigilant for their OWN safety."

T7I7 "The belief that it CAN, a fallacy which the ego ALWAYS makes, underlies its whole use of projection."

T7I7 "The ego IS therefore a confusion in identification, which never had a consistent model, and never developed consistently."

T7I8 "DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THE EGO."

T7I8 "When you are willing to accept sole responsibility for the ego's existence YOURSELF, you will have laid aside all anger and all attack, because they COME from an attempt to PROJECT RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ERRORS."

T7I9 "The ego can be completely forgotten at ANY time, because it was always a belief that is totally incredible."

T7I9 "The more you learn ABOUT the ego, the more you realize that it cannot BE believed."

T7I10 "The whole purpose of this course is to teach you that the ego is unbelievable and will forever BE unbelievable."

T7I10 "You who made the ego by BELIEVING the unbelievable CANNOT make this judgment alone."

T7J2 "Selfishness is of the ego but self-fullness is of the Soul because that is how He created it."

T7J2 "The Holy Spirit is the part of the mind that lies between the ego and the Soul, mediating between them ALWAYS IN FAVOR OF THE SOUL."

T7J2 "To the ego this is partiality, and it therefore responds as if it were the part that is being sided AGAINST."

T7J3 "The ego cannot prevail against a totality which includes God, and any totality MUST include God."

T7J4 "The ego's whole thought system BLOCKS extension, and therefore blocks YOUR ONLY FUNCTION."

T7J9 "This is true in a sense, but no more true than your failure to acknowledge the whole result of the ego's premises."

T7J9 "You HAVE carried the ego's reasoning to its logical conclusion, which is TOTAL CONFUSION ABOUT EVERYTHING."

T7J10 "You therefore ARE willing to look at the ego's premises but NOT at their logical outcome."

T7K2 "What is joyful to you IS painful to the ego, and as long as you are in doubt about what YOU are, you WILL be confused about joy and pain."

T7K2 "Obey the Holy Spirit, and you WILL be giving up the ego, but you will be SACRIFICING nothing."

T7K3 "The ego's wishes do not mean anything, because the ego wishes for the impossible."

T7K3 "This is the ego's weakness and YOUR strength."

T7K4 "The Holy Spirit NEVER asks for sacrifice, but the ego ALWAYS does."

T7K7 "Even the relinquishment of your false decision-making prerogative, which the ego guards so jealously, is not accomplished by your wish."

T7L1 "This is because the ego perceives nothing as wholly desirable."

T8A2 "If you did, you would hardly be willing to throw it away so readily, when the ego asks for your allegiance."

T8A3 "The distraction of the ego SEEMS to interfere with your learning, but it HAS no power to distract unless you GIVE it the power."

T8A3 "The ego's voice is an hallucination."

T8A3 "You cannot expect the EGO to say "I am not real.""

T8A3 "Every response to the ego is a call to war, and war DOES deprive you of peace."

T8C1 "The ego does NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS TRYING TO TEACH."

T8C1 "The ego is expert ONLY in confusion."

T8C2 "Even if you could disregard the Holy Spirit entirely, which is quite impossible, you could learn nothing from the ego, because the ego KNOWS nothing."

T8C2 "The ego has never given you a sensible answer to anything."

T8C2 "Simply on the grounds of your own experience with the ego's teaching, should not this alone disqualify it as your future teacher?"

T8C3 "But the ego has done more harm to your learning than this alone."

T8C3 "The ego cannot teach you anything as long as your will is free, because you WILL NOT LISTEN TO IT."

T8C4 "That is why the ego IS the denial of free will."

T8C4 "This is the UNdoing of EVERYTHING the ego tries to teach."

T8C5 "The ego wants to teach you that you want to OPPOSE God's Will."

T8D6 "The ego tries to find them in YOURSELF, because he does not know where to look."

T8D8 "To achieve the goal of the curriculum, then, you CANNOT listen to the ego."

T8D8 "But YOU can know this, and you WILL know it if you are willing to look at what the ego has made of YOU."

T8D9 "The ego teaches that your strength is in you ALONE."

T8E19 "When you unite with me, you are uniting WITHOUT the ego, because I have renounced the ego in myself, and therefore CANNOT unite with yours."

T8E19 "OUR union is therefore the way to renounce the ego in YOURSELVES."

T8E19 "The truth in both of us is BEYOND the ego."

T8E20 "Our success in transcending the ego is guaranteed by God, and I can share my perfect confidence IN His Promise because I know He gave me this confidence for both of us and ALL of us."

T8E21 "Whenever fear intrudes anywhere along the road to peace, it is ALWAYS because the ego has attempted to JOIN the journey with us AND CANNOT DO SO."

T8E21 "On this journey, you have chosen me as your companion INSTEAD of your ego."

T8E22 "The ego's way is not mine, but it is also NOT YOURS."

T8E22 "Never accord the ego the power to interfere with the journey, because it HAS none, and the journey is the way to what is TRUE."

T8E22 "Leave ALL deception behind, and reach beyond all attempts of the ego to hold you back."

T8E23 "I DO go before you, because I AM beyond the ego."

T8E23 "Reach therefore for my hand because you WANT to transcend the ego."

T8G1 "This is the ego's INTERPRETATION of the body."

T8G3 "The ego SEPARATES through the body."

T8G10 "Guided by the ego, it IS."

T8G10 "The ego's temple thus becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, where devotion to Him replaces devotion to the ego."

T8H1 "The ego's definitions of ANYTHING are childish, and are ALWAYS based on what it believes a thing is FOR."

T8H1 "To the ego, the body IS TO ATTACK WITH."

T8H3 "The ego makes a fundamental confusion between means and ends, as it always does."

T8H3 "You must have noticed an outstanding characteristic of every end that the ego has accepted as its own."

T8H3 "This is why the ego is forced to shift from one end to another without ceasing, so that YOU will continue to hope it can offer you something."

T8H4 "It has been particularly difficult to overcome the ego's belief in the body as an end because this is synonymous with ATTACK AS AN END."

T8H4 "The ego has a REAL INVESTMENT IN SICKNESS."

T8H4 "If you are sick, how can you object to the ego's firm belief that you are NOT invulnerable?"

T8H4 "This is a particularly appealing argument from the ego's point of view, because it obscures the obvious attack which underlies the sickness."

T8H4 "If you accepted THIS, and also decided AGAINST attack, you could not give this false witness to the ego's stand."

T8H5 "If you did, you would not consider sickness such a strong witness on behalf of the ego's views."

T8H5 "A more honest statement would be as follows: Those who WANT the ego are predisposed to defend it."

T8H5 "The ego does not call upon witnesses who might disagree with its case, NOR DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT."

T8H5 "The ego, as a judge, gives anything BUT an impartial trial (judgment.)"

T8H5 "When the ego calls on a witness, it has ALREADY MADE IT AN ALLY."

T8H5 "The ego, however, establishes it AS an end because, as such, IT WILL LOSE ITS TRUE FUNCTION."

T8H6 "This is the purpose of everything the ego does."

T8H6 "Sickness is meaningful only if the two basic premises on which the ego's interpretation of the body rests are true."

T8H6 "The ego uses this as its best argument for your need for ITS guidance."

T8H8 "YOU do not KNOW how you feel, because YOU HAVE ACCEPTED THE EGO's CONFUSION, and YOU think A LEARNING DEVICE CAN TELL YOU HOW YOU FEEL."

T8H8 "The ego is INCAPABLE of knowing how you feel."

T8H8 "When we said that the ego DOES NOT KNOW ANYTHING, we said the one thing about the ego that is wholly true."

T8H8 "If knowledge is being, and the ego has no knowledge, then the ego HAS NO BEING."

T8H9 "No one can doubt the ego's skill in building up false cases."

T8H10 "When YOU lay the ego aside it will be gone."

T8I1 "The ego does not know what a REAL question is, although it asks an endless number."

T8I1 "But YOU can learn this, as you learn to question the value of the ego and thus establish your ability to EVALUATE its questions."

T8I1 "When the ego tempts you to sickness, do not ask the Holy Spirit to heal the body."

T8I1 "For this would merely be to accept the ego's belief that the body is the proper aim for healing."

T8I3 "Dreams are ILLUSIONS of joining, taking on the ego's distortions about what joining means, if you are sleeping under its guidance."

T8I6 "The ego, which always WEAKENS the will, wants to SEPARATE the body from the mind."

T8I6 "But the ego actually believes that it is PROTECTING it."

T8I6 "The ego DESPISES weakness, even though it makes every effort to INDUCE it."

T8I6 "To the ego this is perfectly sensible."

T8J1 "Your will is NOT the ego's, and that is why the ego is against you."

T8J11 "ANY desire which stems from the ego IS a desire for nothing, and to ask for it IS NOT A REQUEST."

T8J11 "The ego cannot ask the Holy Spirit for ANYTHING, because there is COMPLETE COMMUNICATION FAILURE between them."

T9A1 "The alertness of the ego to the errors which other egos make, is NOT the kind of vigilance which the Holy Spirit would have you maintain."

T9A1 "To the ego, it is kind and right and good to point out errors, and "correct" them."

T9A1 "This makes PERFECT sense to the ego, which is TOTALLY unaware of what errors ARE, and what correction IS."

T9A2 "Errors ARE the ego, and CORRECTION of errors of ANY kind lies solely in the RELINQUISHMENT of the ego."

T9A2 "He may be making no sense at the time, and it is certain that if he is speaking from the ego, he WILL be making no sense, but your task is still to tell him HE IS RIGHT."

T9A2 "His ego is ALWAYS wrong, no matter WHAT it says or does."

T9A3 "If you point out the errors of HIS ego, you MUST be seeing him through yours, because the Holy Spirit DOES NOT PERCEIVE HIS ERRORS."

T9A3 "This MUST be true, if there is no communication AT ALL between the ego and the Holy Spirit."

T9A3 "The ego makes NO sense, and the Holy Spirit does not attempt to understand ANYTHING that arises from it."

T9B1 "If you do not hear HIM, you are listening to YOUR ego, and making as little sense as the brother whose errors you perceive."

T9B5 "ANY attempt you make to correct a brother, means that you believe correction by YOU is possible, and this can ONLY be the arrogance of the ego."

T9C3 "But if you would accomplish this THROUGH Him, you cannot look on your abilities through the eyes of the ego, or you will judge them as IT does."

T9C4 "The ego has a plan of forgiveness, because you are ASKING for one, but not of the right teacher."

T9C4 "The EGO's plan, of course, MAKES NO SENSE and WILL NOT WORK."

T9C4 "By following it, you will merely place yourself in an impossible situation, to which the ego ALWAYS leads you."

T9C5 "This is where the ego is forced into appealing to mysteries, and begins to insist that you accept the meaningless, to save yourself."

T9C6 "By steadily and consistently canceling out ALL its effects, EVERYWHERE AND IN ALL RESPECTS, He teaches that the ego does not exist, and PROVES IT."

T9C7 "The confusion of functions is so typical of the ego, that you should be quite familiar with it by now."

T9C7 "The ego believes that ALL functions belong to IT, even though it has no idea what they ARE."

T9C7 "It is a particularly dangerous combination of grandiosity AND confusion, that makes it likely that the ego will attack anyone and anything, for no reason at all."

T9C8 "But you might still ask yourself, regardless of how you can ACCOUNT for the reactions, whether they place the ego in a very sound position as a guide for YOURS."

T9C8 "It seems absurd to have to emphasize repeatedly that the ego's qualifications as a guide are singularly unfortunate, and that it is a remarkably poor choice as a teacher of salvation."

T9C9 "The ego literally lives on borrowed time, and ITS days ARE numbered."

T9C9 "Do not fear the last judgment, but welcome it and do not wait, for the ego's time is borrowed from YOUR eternity."

T9C11 "The symbols of fantasy are of the ego, and of THESE you will find many."

T9D1 "The ego's plan for forgiveness is far more widely used than God's."

T9D1 "This is because it is undertaken by unhealed healers, and IS therefore of the ego."

T9D2 "We have repeatedly stated that beliefs of the ego CANNOT be shared, and THIS IS WHY THEY ARE NOT REAL."

T9D3 "All unhealed healers follow the ego's plan for forgiveness, in one form or another."

T9D3 "What they have done is merely to IDENTIFY with the ego, and by perceiving clearly what IT does, condemn THEMSELVES because of this profound confusion."

T9D4 "The new form of the ego's plan is as unhelpful as the older one, because form does not matter to the Holy Spirit, and therefore DOES NOT MATTER AT ALL."

T9D4 "According to the newer forms of the plan, the therapist interprets the ego's symbols IN the nightmare, and uses them to PROVE THE NIGHTMARE IS REAL."

T9D5 "It is noteworthy that this is a contradiction even in the ego's own terms, and one which it usually DOES note, even in its confusion."

T9D5 "If the way to counteract fear is to reduce the importance of the FEARER, how can this build up ego STRENGTH?"

T9D6 "BECAUSE his ego is involved, it ALWAYS attempts to gain some support from the situation."

T9D8 "Both forms of the ego's approach, then, MUST arrive at an impasse, the characteristic "impossible situation" to which the ego ALWAYS leads."

T9F3 "That is because the ego is AFRAID of the obvious, since obviousness is the essential characteristic of reality."

T9F4 "The ego is also in your mind, because you have ACCEPTED it there."

T9F4 "ITS evaluation of you, however, is the exact opposite of the Holy Spirit's, because the ego does NOT love you."

T9F4 "The ego is therefore capable of suspiciousness at best, and viciousness at worst."

T9F5 "The ego is deceived by EVERYTHING you do, even when you respond to the Holy Spirit, because at such times ITS CONFUSION INCREASES."

T9F5 "The ego is, therefore, particularly likely to attack you when you react lovingly, because it has evaluated you AS UNLOVING, and you are going AGAINST ITS JUDGMENT."

T9F6 "The ego will begin to ATTACK your motives as soon as they become clearly out of accord with its perception of you."

T9F6 "What can this mean, except that you are AGREEING with the ego's evaluation of what you are?"

T9F7 "Would you look to the ego to help you escape from a sense of inadequacy it has PRODUCED, and must MAINTAIN for its own existence?"

T9F8 "The question is meaningless WITHIN the ego's thought-system, because it OPENS THE WHOLE THOUGHT-SYSTEM TO QUESTION."

T9F8 "We said before that the ego does not know what a real question is."

T9F8 "NOT to question your littleness is, therefore, to deny ALL knowledge, and keep the ego's WHOLE thought-system intact."

T9F9 "The Holy Spirit judges against the reality of the ego's thought-system, merely because He knows its FOUNDATION is not true."

T9F10 "Remember this when the ego speaks, and you will not hear it."

T9G1 "Whenever you become aware of it, however dimly, you abandon the ego automatically, because in the presence of the grandeur of God, the meaninglessness of the ego becomes perfectly apparent."

T9G1 "Though it does not understand this, the ego believes that its "enemy" has struck, and attempts to offer gifts to induce you to return to its protection."

T9G1 "The grandiosity of the ego is its alternative to the grandeur of God."

T9G2 "We said before that the ego vacillates between suspiciousness and viciousness."

T9G3 "The ego does not know the difference between grandeur and grandiosity, because it does not know the difference between miracle-impulses and ego-alien beliefs of its own."

T9G3 "We once said that the ego IS aware of threat, but does NOT make distinctions between two ENTIRELY different kinds of threat to its existence."

T9G4 "The ego is immobilized in the presence of God's grandeur, because HIS grandeur establishes YOUR freedom."

T9G4 "Even the faintest hint of your reality literally drives the ego from your mind, because of the complete lack of investment in it."

T9G4 "But the conviction of reality will not REMAIN with you, UNLESS YOU DO NOT ALLOW THE EGO TO ATTACK IT."

T9G5 "The ego will make every effort to recover, and mobilize its energies AGAINST your release."

T9G6 "The ego depends SOLELY on your willingness to tolerate it."

T9G6 "But if you are willing to look upon your grandeur, you CANNOT despair, and therefore you CANNOT want the ego."

T9G6 "Your grandeur is God's ANSWER to the ego, because it is true."

T9G12 "He would have you replace the ego's belief in littleness with His own exalted answer to the question of your being, so that you can cease to question it, and KNOW it for what it IS."

T9I11 "And that is exactly what the ego DOES perceive in a Son of God; -- a sick god, self-created, self-sufficient, very vicious, and very vulnerable."

T9I12 "Look calmly at the logical conclusion of the ego's thought-system, and judge whether its offering is really what you want, for this IS what it offers you."

T9K3 "Allegiance to the denial of God is the ego's religion."

T10A1 "Either God or the ego is insane."

T10A1 "Neither God nor the ego proposes a partial thought system."

T10A2 "If YOU made the ego, how can the ego have made YOU?"

T10A2 "The authority problem remains the ONLY source of perceived conflict, because the ego was MADE out of the wish of God's Son to father HIM."

T10A2 "The ego, then, is nothing more than a delusional system in which YOU MADE YOUR OWN FATHER."

T10A2 "It sounds insane when it is stated with perfect honesty, but the ego never looks upon what it does with perfect honesty."

T10A2 "And either the ego, which you made, IS your father, or its whole thought system will not stand."

T10B1 "The closer you come to the foundation of the ego's thought system, the darker and more obscure becomes the way."

T10B1 "Bring this light fearlessly with you, and hold it up to the foundation of the ego's thought system bravely."

T10B2 "When you have at last looked at the ego's foundation without shrinking, you will also have looked upon ours."

T10B11 "The projection of the ego makes it appear as if God's Will is OUTSIDE yourself, and therefore NOT YOURS."

T10C7 "Whenever you ask the ego to enter, you lessen His welcome."

T10C9 "Would you be hostage to the ego or host to God?"

T10C9 "For the Holy Spirit is THERE, although He cannot help you without your invitation, and the ego is nothing, whether you invite it in or not."

T10E6 "Lay it to yourself, and you cannot KNOW yourself, for ONLY THE EGO BLAMES AT ALL."

T10E6 "Self-blame is therefore ego identification, and as strong an ego defense as blaming others."

T10F1 "We are ready to look more closely at the ego's thought system, because together we have the lamp that will dispel it, and since you realize you do not WANT it, you MUST be ready."

T10F1 "The "dynamics" of the ego will be our lesson for a while, for we must look first at this to look beyond it, since you HAVE made it real."

T10F3 "Let us begin this lesson in "ego dynamics", by understanding that the term itself does not mean anything."

T10F3 ""Dynamics" implies the power to DO something, and the whole separation fallacy lies in the belief that the ego HAS the power to do ANYTHING."

T10F4 "The ego is fearful BECAUSE you believe this."

T10F4 "When we look at the ego, then, we are NOT considering dynamics, but delusions."

T10F4 "Fear becomes more obviously inappropriate if one recognizes the ego's GOAL, which is so clearly senseless that any effort exerted on its behalf is NECESSARILY expended on nothing."

T10F5 "The ego's goal is quite explicitly EGO AUTONOMY."

T10F5 "Everything that stems from the ego is the natural outcome of its central belief, and the way to undo its RESULTS, is merely to recognize that their SOURCE is NOT natural, being out of accord with your TRUE nature."

T10F6 "The real conflict you experience, then, is between the ego's idle wishes and the Will of God, WHICH YOU SHARE."

T10F6 "Do not ascribe the ego's arrogance to Him, Who wills NOT to be independent of YOU."

T10F7 "The belief in EGO autonomy is costing you the knowledge of your dependence on God, IN WHICH YOUR FREEDOM LIES."

T10F7 "The ego sees ALL dependency as threatening, and has twisted even your longing for God into a means of establishing ITSELF."

T10F7 "The ego ALWAYS attacks on behalf of separation."

T10F7 "The ego is totally confused about reality, BUT IT DOES NOT LOSE SIGHT OF ITS GOAL."

T10F8 "What you must learn to recognize is that the LAST thing the ego wishes you to realize, is THAT YOU ARE AFRAID OF IT."

T10F8 "For if the ego gives rise to fear, it is DIMINISHING your independence, and WEAKENING your power."

T10F9 "The ego can and does allow you to regard yourself as supercilious, unbelieving, "light hearted -," distant, emotionally shallow, callous, uninvolved, and even desperate, BUT NOT REALLY AFRAID."

T10F9 "MINIMIZING fear, but NOT its undoing, is the ego's constant effort, and is indeed the skill at which it is VERY ingenious."

T10F10 "YOUR recognition that whatever seems to separate you from God is ONLY fear, regardless of the form it takes, and quite apart from HOW THE EGO WANTS YOU TO EXPERIENCE IT, is therefore the basic ego threat."

T10F10 "Yet this IS the cost, and the ego CANNOT minimize it."

T10F11 "If the ego's goal of autonomy COULD be accomplished GOD's purpose could be DEFEATED, and this IS impossible."

T10F11 "According to the ego's teaching, ITS goal CAN be accomplished, and GOD's Purpose can NOT."

T10F12 "The ego believes that to accomplish ITS goal IS happiness."

T10F12 "Recognize only that the ego's goal, which you have pursued quite diligently, has merely brought you FEAR, and it becomes difficult to maintain that FEAR is happiness."

T10F13 "UPHELD by fear, this IS what the ego would have you believe."

T10F14 "The ego analyzes; the Holy Spirit ACCEPTS."

T10F14 "The attempt to understand totality by BREAKING IT UP is clearly the characteristically contradictory approach of the ego to everything."

T10F14 "Never forget that the ego believes that power, understanding AND TRUTH lie in separation."

T10F14 "Unaware that the belief cannot BE established, and obsessed with the conviction that separation IS salvation, the ego attacks everything it perceives, by breaking it up into small and disconnected parts, without meaningful relationships, and thus without meaning."

T10F14 "The ego will ALWAYS substitute chaos for meaning, for if separation is salvation, harmony is threat."

T10F15 "The ego's interpretations of the laws of perception are, and would HAVE to be, the exact opposite of the Holy Spirit's."

T10F15 "The ego FOCUSES ON ERROR, and OVERLOOKS TRUTH."

T10F15 "Holding error clearly in mind, and protecting what it has made real, the ego proceeds to the next step in its thought system; that error is real, and TRUTH IS ERROR."

T10F16 "The ego makes no attempt to UNDERSTAND this, and it is clearly not understandable."

T10F16 "But the ego does make EVERY attempt to DEMONSTRATE it, and THIS it does constantly."

T10F16 "Analyzing to ATTACK meaning, the ego DOES succeed in overlooking it, and is left with a series of fragmented perceptions WHICH IT UNIFIES ON BEHALF OF ITSELF."

T10F17 "Do not underestimate the appeal of the ego's demonstrations to those who would listen."

T10F17 "Can the ego teach truly, when it overlooks truth?"

T10F17 "The ego looks straight at the Father and does not see Him, for it has denied His Son."

T10F18 "What you see of His Son through the eyes of the ego is a demonstration that His Son does not exist, yet where the Son is, the Father MUST be."

T10F19 "Every brother you meet becomes a witness for Christ or for the ego, depending on what you perceive in him."

T10G1 "The resurrection is the complete triumph of Christ over the ego, not by attack, but by transcendence."

T10G1 "For Christ DOES rise above the ego and all its works, and ascends to the Father and HIS Kingdom."

T10H2 "The ego sees SOME good, but never ONLY good."

T11A2 "The analysis of ego motivation is very complicated, very obscuring, and NEVER without the risk of your own ego involvement."

T11B3 "The analysis of the ego's "real" motivation is the modern equivalent of the inquisition."

T11B7 "Yet we have repeatedly emphasized the need to recognize fear, and face it WITHOUT DISGUISE, as a crucial step in the undoing of the ego."

T11D3 "Whenever you become angry with a brother, for WHATEVER reason, you are believing that the EGO is to be saved, AND TO BE SAVED BY ATTACK."

T11D4 "Poverty is of the ego, and never of God."

T11D6 "To identify with the ego is to attack yourself, and MAKE YOURSELF POOR."

T11D6 "That is why everyone who identifies with the ego FEELS DEPRIVED."

T11D6 "Even if he is fully aware of ANXIETY, he does NOT perceive its source AS HIS OWN EGO IDENTIFICATION, and he ALWAYS tries to handle it by making some sort of insane "arrangement" with the world."

T11D7 "EVERYTHING you perceive as the outside world, is merely your attempt to maintain your ego identification, for everyone believes that identification is salvation."

T11E1 "The ego is certain that love is dangerous, and this is ALWAYS its central teaching."

T11E1 "It never PUTS it this way; on the contrary, everyone who believes that the ego is salvation is intensely engaged in the SEARCH for love."

T11E1 "Yet the ego, though encouraging the search very actively, makes one proviso; - do not FIND it."

T11E1 "For the ego pursues its goal with fanatic insistence, and its reality-testing, though severely impaired, is completely consistent."

T11E2 "The search which the ego undertakes is therefore bound to be defeated."

T11E2 "For the ego CANNOT love, and in its frantic search FOR love, it is seeking WHAT IT IS AFRAID TO FIND."

T11E2 "The SEARCH is inevitable, because the ego is part of your mind, and because of its source, the ego is not wholly split off, or it could not be believed at all."

T11E3 "Being UNABLE to love, the ego would be totally inadequate in Love's presence, for it could not respond at all."

T11E3 "The ego will therefore DISTORT love, and teach you that LOVE calls forth the responses the ego CAN teach."

T11E4 "But DO you realize that the ego MUST set you on a journey that cannot BUT lead to a sense of futility and depression?"

T11F7 "We have said that the ego's rule is, "Seek and do NOT find.""

T11G1 "The ego is trying to teach you how to gain the whole world, and lose your own Soul."

T11H6 "The ego finds what it seeks, and ONLY that."

T11H14 "The death penalty is the ego's ultimate goal, for it fully believes that you are a criminal, as deserving of death as God knows you are deserving of life."

T11H14 "The death penalty never leaves the ego's mind, for that is what it always reserves for you in the end."

T11H15 "The ego is not a traitor to God to Whom treachery is impossible."

T11H15 "For as long as you feel guilty, you are listening to the voice of the ego, which tells you that you HAVE been treacherous to God, AND THEREFORE DESERVE DEATH."

T11H15 "You will think that death comes from Him, AND NOT FROM THE EGO, because, by confusing yourself WITH the ego, you believe that YOU want death."

T11J3 "For if it did, attack WOULD be salvation, and this is the ego's interpretation, NOT God's."

T11J6 "For the blamelessness of Christ is the proof that the ego never was, and can never be."

T11J6 "Without guilt the ego HAS no life, and God's Son IS without guilt."

T11J12 "Guilt, then, is a way of holding past and future in your minds, to ensure the ego's continuity."

T11J13 "But the guarantee of your continuity is God's, not the ego's."

T11J14 "For this is the ego's plan, which it offers INSTEAD of dispelling it."

T11J14 "The ego believes in ATONEMENT THROUGH ATTACK, being fully committed to the insane notion that attack IS salvation."

T11J14 "And YOU who cherish guilt must ALSO believe it, for how else but by identifying WITH the ego, could you hold dear what you do not want?"

T11J15 "The ego teaches you to attack yourself BECAUSE you are guilty, and this MUST INCREASE the guilt, for guilt is the RESULT of attack."

T11J15 "In the ego's teaching, then, there IS no escape from guilt."

T12A1 "The ultimate purpose of projection, as the ego uses it, is ALWAYS to get rid of guilt."

T12A1 "For much as the ego wants to RETAIN guilt, YOU find it intolerable."

T12A1 "On this issue, then, the deepest split of all occurs, for if you are to RETAIN guilt, as the ego insists, YOU CANNOT BE YOU."

T12A1 "Only by persuading you that IT is you, could the ego possibly induce you to PROJECT guilt, and thereby keep it in your mind."

T12A2 "But consider how strange a solution the ego's arrangement is."

T12A2 "On the contrary, you associate them with a weird assortment of EGO ideals, which the ego claims you have failed."

T12B1 "For the ego's destructive urge is so intense, that nothing short of the crucifixion of God's Son can ultimately satisfy it."

T12B2 "Much of the ego's strange behavior is directly attributable to its definition of guilt."

T12B2 "To the ego, THE GUILTLESS ARE GUILTY."

T12B2 "They have approached the darkest and deepest cornerstone in the ego's foundation, and while it can withstand your raising all else to question, it guards this one secret with its life, for its existence DOES depend on keeping this secret."

T12B2 "And it is this secret that we must look upon calmly, for the ego cannot protect you AGAINST truth, and in ITS presence the ego is dispelled."

T12B3 "For the ego DOES want to kill you, and if you identify WITH it, you MUST believe ITS GOAL IS YOURS."

T12B4 "We once said that the crucifixion is the symbol of the ego."

T12B4 "To the ego, THE EGO IS GOD, and guiltlessness MUST be interpreted AS THE FINAL GUILT WHICH FULLY JUSTIFIES MURDER."

T12B6 "You have recognized the futility of the ego and its offerings, but though you do not want it, you will not look upon the alternative with gladness."

T12C2 "You could look even upon the ego's darkest cornerstone WITHOUT fear, if you did not believe that, WITHOUT THE EGO, you would find, within yourself, something you fear even more."

T12C2 "Under the ego's dark foundation is the memory of God, and it is of THIS that you are really afraid."

T12C3 "For still deeper than the ego's foundation, and MUCH stronger than IT will ever be, is your intense and burning love of God, AND HIS FOR YOU."

T12C6 "Therefore, you have used the world to COVER YOUR LOVE, and the deeper you go into the blackness of the ego's foundation, the CLOSER you come to the Love that is hidden beneath it."

T12C6 "You are more afraid of God than of the ego, and love cannot enter where it is not welcome."

T12D1 "The ego teaches that your function on earth is destruction, and that you have no function AT ALL in Heaven."

T12D4 "The ego has a very strange notion of time, and it is with this notion that the questioning might well begin."

T12D4 "The ego invests heavily in the past, and in the end, believes that the past is the ONLY aspect of time that is meaningful."

T12D4 "For the ego uses the present ONLY as a brief transition TO the future, in which it brings the past TO the future, BY INTERPRETING THE PRESENT IN PAST TERMS."

T12D5 "NOW has no meaning to the ego."

T12D5 "For the ego cannot tolerate RELEASE from the past, and though it is no more, the ego tries to preserve its IMAGE by responding as if it were present."

T12D6 "For the ego would PRESERVE your nightmares, and PREVENT you from awaking, and understanding that THEY are past."

T12D7 "The ego teaches that you always encounter your PAST, and because your dreams WERE not holy, the future CANNOT be, and the present is without meaning."

T12D7 "It is evident that the Holy Spirit's perception of time is the exact opposite of the ego's."

T12D9 "The ego, on the other hand, regards the function of time as one of extending itself IN PLACE of eternity."

T12D9 "For, like the Holy Spirit, the ego interprets the goal of time as its own."

T12D9 "The continuity of past and future, UNDER ITS DIRECTION, is the only purpose it perceives in time, and it closes over the present, so that no gap in the EGO's continuity can occur."

T12G9 "The ego wants to HAVE things for salvation, for possession is its law."

T12G9 "Possession for its OWN sake is the ego's fundamental creed, a basic cornerstone in the churches that it builds unto itself."

T12G10 "EVERYTHING that the ego tells you that you need will hurt you."

T12G10 "For where the ego sees salvation IT SEES SEPARATION, and so you lose whatever you have gotten in its name."

T13C1 "The guilty ALWAYS condemn, and HAVING done so, they WILL condemn, linking the future to the past, as is the ego's law."

T13C1 "The ego's laws are strict, and breaches are severely punished."

T13C2 "Release from guilt is the ego's whole undoing."

T13C2 "MAKE NO-ONE FEARFUL, for his guilt is yours, and, by obeying the ego's harsh commandments, you bring its condemnation on yourself, and you will not escape the punishment it offers those who obey it."

T13C2 "The ego rewards fidelity to it with pain, for faith in it IS pain."

T13C7 "The ego tells you all is black with guilt within you, and bids you NOT TO LOOK."

T13D15 "Forgetfulness and sleep, and even death, become the ego's best advice for how to deal with the perceived and harsh intrusion of guilt on peace."

T13E8 "This is the reconciliation which the ego would substitute for your reconciliation unto sanity and unto peace."

T13E9 "The Holy Spirit has a very different kind of reconciliation in His mind for you, and one which HE WILL EFFECT, as surely as the ego will NOT effect what it attempts."

T13E9 "Failure is of the ego, NOT of God."

T13F1 "The Holy Spirit uses logic as easily, and as well, as does the ego, except that HIS conclusions are NOT insane."

T13F1 "They take a direction EXACTLY opposite, pointing as clearly to Heaven as the ego points to darkness and to death."

T13F1 "We have followed much of the ego's logic, and have seen its logical conclusions."

T13H4 "Each day, each hour and minute, - even each second, - you are deciding between the crucifixion and the Resurrection; between the ego and the Holy Spirit."

T13H4 "The ego is the choice for guilt, the Holy Spirit the decision for blamelessness."

T14B11 "Crucifixion is ALWAYS the ego's aim."

T14E1 "The bringing together of truth and illusion, OF THE EGO AND GOD, is the Holy Spirit's only function."

T14E2 "Bringing the ego to God, is but to bring error to truth, where it stands corrected, because it is the OPPOSITE of what it meets, and is undone because the CONTRADICTION can no longer stand."

T14E5 "Earth can reflect Heaven or hell; God or the ego."

T14F4 "For some are reflections of Heaven, while others are motivated by the ego, which but SEEMS to think."

T14F5 "The very fact that you can DO this, and bring ANY order into chaos, shows you that you are NOT an ego, and that MORE than an ego MUST be in you."

T14F5 "For the ego IS chaos, and if it were all of you, no order at all would be possible."

T14F6 "But, though the order which you impose upon your minds limits the ego, IT ALSO LIMITS YOU."

T14F8 "For you do NOT respond to what a brother REALLY offers you, but only to the particular perception of his offering by which your EGO judges it."

T14F8 "The ego is incapable of understanding content, and is totally unconcerned with it."

T14F8 "To the ego, if the form is acceptable, the content MUST be."

T14F9 "The study of the ego is NOT the study of the mind."

T14F9 "In fact, the ego enjoys the study of itself, and thoroughly approves the undertakings of the students who would analyze it, approving its importance."

T14F10 "This is the characteristic of the ego's judgments."

T14F10 "SEPARATION therefore remains the ego's chosen condition."

T14F10 "For no-one ALONE can judge the ego truly."

T14F10 "But when two or more JOIN TOGETHER in searching for truth, the ego can no longer defend its lack of content."

T14G14 "Whenever you fully realize that YOU KNOW NOT, peace will return, for you will have invited Him to do so, by abandoning the ego on behalf of Him."

T14G14 "Call not upon the ego for ANYTHING."

T15A2 "But all the waste that time seems to bring with it, is due but to your identification with the ego, who uses time to support ITS belief in destruction."

T15A2 "The ego, like the Holy Spirit, uses time to convince you of the inevitability of the goal and end of learning."

T15A2 "To the ego, the goal is death, which IS its end."

T15B1 "The ego IS an ally of time, but NOT a friend."

T15B1 "The ego wants YOU dead, but NOT itself."

T15B2 "The belief in hell is inescapable to those who identify with the ego."

T15B2 "The ego teaches that hell is IN THE FUTURE, for this is what ALL its teaching is directed to."

T15B2 "For, although the ego aims at death and dissolution as an end, IT does not believe it."

T15B2 "No-one who follows the ego's teaching is without the FEAR of death."

T15B3 "We have seen this strange paradox in the ego's thought-system before, but never so clearly as here."

T15B3 "For the ego must SEEM to KEEP FEAR FROM YOU, to keep your allegiance."

T15B3 "Again, the ego tries, and all too frequently succeeds, in doing both, but using dissociation for holding its contradictory aims together, so that they SEEM to be reconciled."

T15B3 "The ego teaches thus: Death is the end, as far as hope of Heaven goes."

T15B4 "Such is the ego's version of immortality."

T15B4 "And it is THIS the ego's version of time supports."

T15B4 "The ego teaches that Heaven is here and now, because the FUTURE is hell."

T15B4 "The only time the ego allows anyone to look upon, with some amount of equanimity is the PAST."

T15B5 "How bleak and despairing is the ego's use of time!"

T15B5 "The ego does not advertise its final threat, for it would have its worshippers still believe that IT can offer the ESCAPE from it."

T15B5 "The only way in which the ego allows the fear of hell to be experienced is to BRING HELL HERE, but ALWAYS as a foretaste of the future."

T15B6 "Hell is only what the ego has made OF THE PRESENT."

T15B6 "The Holy Spirit leads as steadily to Heaven, as the ego drives to hell."

T15B6 "For the Holy Spirit, Who knows ONLY the present, uses it to UNDO the fear by which the ego would make the present useless."

T15B6 "There is NO ESCAPE from fear, in the ego's use of time."

T15B12 "Long enough to transcend ALL of the ego's making, and ascend unto your Father."

T15C4 "You do not realize how much you have MISUSED your brothers, by seeing them as sources of EGO support."

T15C4 "As a result, they witness TO the ego in your perception, and SEEM to provide reasons for NOT letting it go."

T15C5 "It is, therefore, your choice, whether they support the ego or the Holy Spirit IN YOU."

T15D5 "We asked you once before, "Would you be hostage to the ego or host to God?""

T15D6 "All your attempts to deny His magnitude, and make His Son hostage to the ego, CANNOT make little whom God has joined with Him."

T15E3 "And value NO plan of the ego, BEFORE the plan of God."

T15E6 "Complexity is of the ego, and is nothing more than the ego's attempt to obscure the obvious."

T15F1 "You are afraid of this, because you believe that, WITHOUT THE EGO, all would be chaos."

T15F1 "Yet I assure you that, without the ego, ALL WOULD BE LOVE."

T15F2 "The past is the EGO's chief learning device, for it is in the past that you learned to define your OWN needs, and acquired methods for meeting them ON YOUR OWN TERMS."

T15F4 "In His function as Interpreter of what you have made, the Holy Spirit USES special relationships, which YOU have chosen to support the ego, as a learning experience which points to truth."

T15F7 "The ego's use of relationships is so fragmented, that it frequently goes even further; one PART of one aspect suits its purposes, while it prefers DIFFERENT parts of another."

T15H1 "This is NOT the basis for ANY love relationship in which the ego enters."

T15H1 "For EVERY relationship on which the ego embarks IS special."

T15H1 "The ego establishes relationships ONLY to GET something."

T15H2 "It is impossible for the ego to enter into any relationship without anger, for the ego believes that ANGER MAKES FRIENDS."

T15H2 "For the ego REALLY BELIEVES that it can get, and KEEP, by MAKING GUILTY."

T15H2 "For the ego always SEEMS to attract through love, and has no attraction at all to anyone who perceives that IT ATTRACTS THROUGH GUILT."

T15H4 "We said before that the ego attempts to maintain and INCREASE guilt, but in such a way, that you do NOT recognize what it would do to YOU."

T15H4 "For it is the ego's fundamental doctrine that, what you do to others, YOU HAVE ESCAPED."

T15H4 "The ego wishes NO-ONE well."

T15H5 "For the chain of savagery belongs not around the chosen host of God, who CANNOT make himself host to the ego."

T15H5 "In the name of his release, and in the Name of Him Who would release him, let us look more closely at the relationships that the ego contrives, and let the Holy Spirit judge them truly."

T15H6 "In one way or another, every relationship which the ego makes is based on the idea that, by SACRIFICING itself, IT BECOMES BIGGER."

T15H6 "Yet the ego acknowledges "reality" as it sees it, and recognizes that NO-ONE could interpret DIRECT attack as love."

T15H7 "Forgiveness becomes impossible, for the ego believes, that to forgive another, IS TO LOSE HIM."

T15H7 "For it is only by attack WITHOUT forgiveness, that the ego can ensure the guilt which holds ALL its relationships together."

T15H8 "For relationships, to the ego, mean ONLY that BODIES are together."

T15H8 "It is always PHYSICAL closeness that the ego demands, and it does not object where the mind goes, or what it thinks, for this seems unimportant."

T15H8 "To the ego, THE MIND IS PRIVATE, and only the body CAN be shared."

T15H9 "Suffering and sacrifice are the gifts with which the ego would "bless" all unions."

T15H9 "The fury of those joined at the ego's altar, far exceeds your awareness of it."

T15H9 "For what the ego really, wants you do NOT realize."

T15H10 "Whenever you are angry, you can be sure that you have formed a special relationship which the ego has "blessed," for anger IS its "blessing.""

T15H10 "ALL anger is nothing more than an attempt to MAKE SOMEONE FEEL GUILTY, and this attempt is the ONLY basis which the ego accepts for special relationships."

T15H10 "Guilt is the only need the ego has, and, as long as you identify WITH it, guilt will remain ATTRACTIVE to you."

T15H12 "The illusion of the autonomy of the body, and ITS ability to overcome loneliness, is but the working of the ego's plan to establish its OWN autonomy."

T15H12 "For the ego will ALWAYS teach that loneliness is solved by guilt, and that communication is the CAUSE of loneliness."

T15I7 "As the ego would limit your perception of your brothers to the body, so would the Holy Spirit RELEASE your vision, and let you see the Great Rays shining from them, so unlimited that they reach to God."

T15I8 "The body is the symbol of the ego, as the ego is the symbol of separation."

T15I9 "But to SEE this, it is necessary to give up EVERY use the ego has for the body, and to accept the fact that the ego has NO purpose you would SHARE with it."

T15I9 "For the ego would limit everyone TO a body for ITS purposes, and, while you think it HAS a purpose, you will choose to utilize the means by which IT tries to turn its purpose into accomplishment."

T15I110 "Yet you have surely recognized that the ego, whose goals are altogether UNattainable, will strive for them with all its might."

T15I110 "Yet it is impossible to DIVIDE your strength between Heaven and hell, God and the ego, and RELEASE your power unto creation, that is the ONLY purpose for which it was GIVEN you."

T15I110 "Limits are DEMANDED, representing the ego's demands to make little and ineffectual."

T15I11 "For the body IS little and limited, and only those whom you would see WITHOUT the limits that the ego would impose on them, can offer YOU the gift of freedom."

T15I13 "As you let the Holy Spirit teach you how to use the body ONLY for purposes of communication, and RENOUNCE its use for separation and attack, which the EGO sees in it, you will learn you have no need of a body at all."

T15J1 "But here, it is the Holy Spirit's function to use them both, NOT as the ego uses them."

T15J4 "For, though the ego takes many forms, it is ALWAYS the same idea."

T15J5 "The idea is simply this; you believe that it is possible to be host to the ego, or hostage to God."

T15J6 "As host to the ego, you believe that you can give ALL your guilt away, WHATEVER you think, and purchase peace."

T15J6 "While it is obvious that the ego DOES demand payment, it NEVER seems to be demanding it OF YOU."

T15J6 "For you are unwilling to recognize that the ego, which you INVITED, is treacherous only to those who think they are its host."

T15J7 "The ego will NEVER let you perceive this, for this recognition WILL make it homeless."

T15J7 "For, when this recognition dawns clearly, you will NOT be deceived by ANY form the ego takes, to protect itself FROM your sight."

T15J7 "And so the ego seems to demand LESS of you than God, and of the two is judged as the LESSER of two evils, one to be feared a little, but the Other TO BE DESTROYED."

T15J9 "For to Him you ascribed the EGO's treachery, inviting it to take His place, and PROTECT you FROM Him."

T15J9 "You will NOT succeed in being PARTIAL hostage to the ego, for it keeps NO bargains, and would leave you NOTHING."

T16A1 "This is the EGO's interpretation of empathy, and is ALWAYS used to form a special relationship, in which SUFFERING is shared."

T16A1 "When He relates through you, He does NOT relate through the ego to another ego."

T16A2 "The clearest proof that empathy, as the ego uses it, is DESTRUCTIVE, lies in the fact that it is applied ONLY to certain types of problems, and in certain people."

T16A2 "Make no mistake about this maneuver; the ego always EMPATHIZES TO WEAKEN."

T16B2 "Be tempted not in this and yield not to the ego's triumphant use of empathy, for ITS glory."

T16D2 "The ego's teaching produces IMMEDIATE results, because ITS decisions are immediately ACCEPTED AS YOUR CHOICE."

T16D2 "Cause and effect are very clear in the ego's thought-system, because all your learning has been directed toward ESTABLISHING the relationship between them."

T16F1 "For the ego would have you see Him, AND HIM ALONE, as guilty, leaving the Sonship OPEN to attack, and unprotected against it."

T16F2 "The special love relationship is the ego's chief weapon for keeping you from Heaven."

T16F2 "The special love relationship is the ego's most boasted gift, and the one that has the most appeal to those unwilling to relinquish guilt."

T16F2 "The "dynamics" of the ego are clearest here, for, counting on the attraction of this offering, the fantasies which center around this, are often quite open."

T16F4 "It is in the special relationship, born of the hidden wish for special love from God, that the ego's hatred triumphs."

T16F4 "And it is essential to the preservation of the ego, that you believe this specialness is NOT hell, but HEAVEN."

T16F4 "For the ego would never have you see that the separation can ONLY BE LOSS, being the one condition in which Heaven CANNOT be."

T16F5 "There CAN be no disagreement on this, because both the ego AND the Holy Spirit accept it."

T16F5 "To the ego, completion lies in triumph, and in the extension of the "victory," even to the final triumph over God."

T16F5 "From this it follows that union, which is a condition in which the EGO cannot interfere, MUST BE HELL."

T16F6 "The special relationship is a strange and unnatural ego device for joining hell and Heaven, and making them indistinguishable."

T16F6 "What better example could there be of the ego's maxim, "Seek, and do NOT find?""

T16F7 "Most curious of all, is the concept of the self, which the ego fosters in the special relationship."

T16F8 "The "better" self the ego seeks is ALWAYS one that is MORE special."

T16F8 "Where both partners see this special self IN EACH OTHER, the EGO sees "a union made in Heaven.""

T16F8 "For NEITHER will recognize that HE HAS ASKED FOR HELL, and so he will NOT interfere with the ego's ILLUSION of Heaven, which it offered him TO INTERFERE WITH HEAVEN."

T16F9 "The appeal of hell lies ONLY in the terrible attraction of guilt, which the ego holds out to those who place their faith in littleness."

T16F9 "And the REAL purpose of the special relationship, in strict accordance with the ego's goals, is to DESTROY reality and SUBSTITUTE ILLUSION."

T16F9 "For the ego is ITSELF an illusion, and ONLY illusions can BE the witnesses to its reality."

T16G1 "The search for the special relationship is the sign that you equate your self with the ego, and NOT with God."

T16G1 "For the special relationship has value ONLY to the ego."

T16G2 "You do NOT recognize that this IS its REAL appeal, for the ego has taught you that FREEDOM lies in it."

T16G4 "Yet the special relationship which the EGO seeks, does NOT include even ONE whole individual."

T16G4 "For the ego WANTS but part of him, and sees ONLY this part, and nothing else."

T16G9 "Be glad you have escaped the mockery of salvation that the ego offered you, and look not back with longing on the travesty it made of your relationships."

T16H3 "Do not underestimate the intensity of the ego's drive for vengeance on the past."

T16H3 "For the ego remembers everything that YOU have done that offended it, and seeks retribution OF YOU."

T16H4 "For the ego holds the past AGAINST YOU, and, in your ESCAPE from it, it sees ITSELF deprived of the vengeance it believes that you so justly merit."

T16H4 "Yet, without your ALLIANCE in your own destruction, the ego could not hold you to the past."

T16H4 "But what is LESS obvious to you, is that the PRESENT is useless to you, while you pursue the ego's goal, as its ally."

T16H5 "But the one thing that the ego NEVER allows to reach awareness, is that the special relationship is the acting out of VENGEANCE ON YOURSELF."

T16H6 "Against the ego's insane notion of salvation, the Holy Spirit gently lays the holy instant."

T16H6 "The holy instant is the OPPOSITE of the ego's fixed belief in salvation through vengeance for the past."

T16H10 "Remember that you ALWAYS choose between truth and illusion, between the REAL Atonement that would heal, and the ego's "atonement," that would destroy."

T16H10 "Be an ally of God, and NOT the ego, in seeking how Atonement can come to you."

T17D2 "They offer you the 'reasons' why you should enter into unholy alliances, which support the ego's goals, and make your relationships the witness to ITS power."

T17D2 "It is these shadow figures which would MAKE THE EGO HOLY in your sight, and teach you what you do to keep IT safe, is really LOVE."

T17D5 "For time IS cruel in the ego's hands, as it is kind when used for gentleness."

T17D8 "The EGO seeks to 'resolve' ITS problems, NOT at their source, but where they were NOT made."

T17D10 "And whom God has JOINED as one, the ego CANNOT break apart."

T17D11 "In brief, the past is NOW your justification for entering into a continuing, unholy alliance with the ego AGAINST THE PRESENT."

T17D12 "For you can NEVER choose EXCEPT between God and the ego."

T17E3 "In a sense, the special relationship was the EGO's answer to the creation of the Holy Spirit, Who was God's Answer to the separation."

T17E3 "For, although the ego did not understand WHAT had been created, it WAS aware of threat."

T17E4 "The whole defense system that the ego evolved, to PROTECT the separation from the Holy Spirit, was in response to the Gift with which God blessed it, and BY His blessing enabled it to be HEALED."

T17E5 "The ego IS hyper alert to threat, and the part of your mind into which the ego was accepted is VERY anxious to preserve its reason, AS IT SEES IT."

T17E6 "You recognize, at least in general terms, that the ego is insane."

T17E6 "Yet we have looked at it far closer than at many other ASPECTS of the ego's thought-system which you have been more willing to let go."

T17E8 "The special relationship has the most imposing and deceptive frame of all the defenses the ego uses."

T17E11 "For, as the whole thought-system of the ego lies in ITS gifts, so the whole of Heaven lies in this instant, borrowed from eternity, and set in time for YOU."

T17F4 "The temptation of the ego becomes extremely intense, with this shift in goals."

T17F5 "For the CONTRAST would be obscured, and the ego given time to re-interpret each slow step, according to its liking."

T17F7 "Now the ego counsels thus; substitute for this ANOTHER relationship, to which your FORMER goal was QUITE appropriate."

T17G2 "In the ego's procedure, this is reversed."

T17G2 "The ego does not know what it WANTS to come of it."

T17G3 "And now, the only judgment LEFT to make is whether or not the ego LIKES it; is it acceptable, or does it call for vengeance."

T17G5 "Here, again, you see the OPPOSITE of the ego's way of looking."

T17G5 "For the EGO believes the situation BRINGS the experience."

T17G6 "But this is so ONLY from the viewpoint of the ego, for the ego believes in 'solving' conflicts through FRAGMENTATION, and does NOT perceive the situation as a whole."

T17G7 "Confronted with any ASPECT of the situation which SEEMS to be difficult, the ego will attempt to TAKE THIS ASPECT ELSEWHERE, and resolve it there."

T18A1 "To fragment IS TO EXCLUDE, and substitution is the strongest defense the ego has for separation."

T18A2 "Where the ego perceives one person as a REPLACEMENT FOR another, the Holy Spirit sees them joined and indivisible."

T18A2 "But everything SEEMS to come between the fragmented relationships the ego sponsors, to destroy."

T18C1 "Here, you are "free" to make over whatever SEEMED to attack you, and CHANGE it into a TRIBUTE to your ego, which was outraged by the attack."

T18C1 "This would not be YOUR wish unless you saw yourself AS ONE with the ego, which ALWAYS looks upon itself, and therefore on you, as UNDER attack, and highly VULNERABLE to it."

T18C2 "Yet they ARE a way of LOOKING at the world, and CHANGING it TO SUIT THE EGO BETTER."

T18C2 "They provide STRIKING examples, both of the ego's INABILITY to tolerate reality, and your willingness to CHANGE reality on its behalf."

T18E1 "Do not attempt to give the Holy Spirit what He does NOT ask, or you will add the ego unto Him, and CONFUSE THE TWO."

T18I2 "Within this kingdom the ego rules, and cruelly."

T18J6 "For the REALITY of guilt is the illusion which seems to make it heavy and opaque, impenetrable, and a REAL foundation for the ego's thought system."

T19A2 "And he is healed BECAUSE you offered faith to him, giving him to the Holy Spirit and RELEASING him from every demand your ego would make of him."

T19C2 "Sin is the "grand illusion" underlying ALL the ego's grandiosity."

T19C4 "A MAJOR tenet in the ego's insane religion is that sin is NOT error, but TRUTH."

T19C5 "ANY attempt to re-interpret sin as error is wholly indefensible to the ego."

T19C5 "It is the most "holy" concept in the ego's system; lovely and powerful, wholly true, and NECESSARILY protected with every defense at its disposal."

T19C6 "It can indeed be said the ego MADE its world on sin."

T19C6 "For sin HAS changed creation from an Idea of God to an IDEAL the EGO wants; a world IT rules, made up of bodies, mindless, and capable of COMPLETE corruption and decay."

T19C8 "There is no stone in all the ego's embattled citadel more heavily defended than the idea that sin is real; the NATURAL expression of what the Son of God has MADE himself to be, AND WHAT HE IS."

T19C8 "To the ego, THIS IS NO MISTAKE."

T19C9 "And this WOULD be the ego's wish, which, in its madness, it thinks it has ACCOMPLISHED."

T19C9 "Perhaps you would be tempted to AGREE with the ego, that it is far better to be sinful than mistaken."

T19D1 "As an ESSENTIAL part of what the ego thinks you ARE, you will ALWAYS want it."

T19D2 "The ego does not think it possible that love, NOT fear, is really called upon by sin, AND ALWAYS ANSWERS."

T19D2 "For the ego brings sin to FEAR, demanding punishment."

T19F9 "To the ego, sin MEANS death, and so Atonement IS ACHIEVED THROUGH MURDER."

T19F10 "This IS completion, as the ego sees it."

T19H5 "It is essential that this relationship be understood, for it is one the ego sees as proof of sin."

T19H6 "It is this IDEA that underlies all of the ego's heavy investment in the body."

T19H7 "The ego and the Holy Spirit both recognize this."

T19H7 "The ego HIDES it, for it would keep you unaware of it."

T19H8 "ego's messages are ALWAYS sent AWAY from you, in the belief that, for your message of attack and guilt, will someone OTHER than yourself suffer."

T19H9 "Forget not that the ego has DEDICATED the body to the goal of sin, and places in it ALL its faith that this can be accomplished."

T19H9 "Its sad disciples chant the body's praise continually, in solemn celebration of the ego's rule."

T19H10 "It is not given to the ego's disciples to realize that they have dedicated themselves to death."

T19H10 "Like to the ego, the Holy Spirit is both the sender and receiver."

T19H10 "So does the ego FIND the death it seeks, returning it to YOU."

T19I1 "Made by the ego, its dark shadow falls across all living things, because the ego is the "enemy" of life."

T19I2 "The black-draped "sinners," the ego's mournful chorus, plodding so heavily AWAY from life, dragging their chains and marching in the slow procession that honors their grim master, lord of death."

T19I3 "When you accepted the Holy Spirit's purpose in place of the ego's, you RENOUNCED death, exchanging it for life."

T19I3 "And death is the result of the thought we call the ego, as surely as life is the result of the Thought of God."

T19J1 "From the ego came sin and guilt and death, in OPPOSITION to life and innocence, and to the Will of God Himself."

T19J3 "For what the ego loves, it kills for its obedience."

T19J5 "Death, were it true, would be the final and complete disruption of communication, which IS the ego's goal."

T19J6 "For in it lies hidden all the ego's secrets, all its strange devices for deception, all its sick ideas and weird imaginings."

T19J6 "Here is the final end of union, the triumph of the ego's making over creation, the victory of lifelessness on life Itself."

T19J6 "the ego would lay the Son of God, slain by its orders, proof in his decay that God Himself is powerless before the ego's might, unable to protect the life that He created, against the ego's savage wish to kill."

T19J10 "When anything seems to you to be a source of fear, when any situation strikes you with terror and makes your body tremble and the cold sweat of fear comes over it, remember it is ALWAYS for one reason; the ego has perceived it as a symbol of fear, a sign of sin and death."

T19K3 "The dedication to death and to its sovereignty is but the solemn vow, the promise made in secret to the ego, never to lift this veil, not to approach it, nor even to SUSPECT that it is there."

T19K3 "This is the secret bargain, made with the ego, to keep what lies BEYOND the veil forever blotted out and unremembered."

T19K4 "You are no more afraid of death than of the ego."

T19K6 "The "loveliness" of sin; the delicate appeal of guilt, the "holy" waxen image of death, and the fear of vengeance of the ego you swore in blood not to desert, all rise and bid you NOT to raise your eyes."

T19L1 "And it was surely NOT the ego that led you here."

T20D2 "Adjustments of ANY kind are of the ego."

T20D2 "For it is the ego's fixed belief that all relationships DEPEND upon adjustments, to make of them what it would have them be."

T20D2 "The ego is the self-appointed mediator of ALL relationships, making whatever adjustments it deems necessary, and INTERPOSING them BETWEEN those who would meet, to keep them separate and PREVENT their union."

T20D5 "This sickly picture of yourself is carefully preserved by the ego, whose image it IS and which it loves, and placed OUTSIDE you, in the world."

T20D6 "The world the holy see is one with them, just as the world the ego looks upon is like itself."

T20F3 "Only the ego does this, but all it means is that it WANTS the other for ITSELF, and therefore values him too little."

T20G4 "The body is the ego's chosen weapon for seeking power THROUGH relationships."

T20G4 "Homeless, the ego seeks as many bodies as it can collect, to place its idols in, and so establish them as temples to itself."

T20G11 "The body is the ego's idol; the belief in sin made flesh, and then projected outward."

T20H4 "As nothing, which it IS, the body cannot meaningfully be invested with attributes of Christ OR of the ego."

T20H5 "The body IS the means by which the ego tries to make the unholy relationship seem real."

T20I11 "They are HIS substitutes for all the terrifying sights and screaming sounds the ego's purpose brought to your horrified awareness."

T21C6 "All that the ego is, is an idea that it is possible that things should HAPPEN to the Son of God, WITHOUT his will."

T21C9 "We have already said that wishful thinking is how the ego deals with what it wants, to make it so."

T21E1 "Fear in association with sin the ego deems quite appropriate, and smiles approvingly."

T21E1 "Remember that the ego is NOT alone."

T21E2 "Loudly the ego tells you NOT to look inward, for if you do, your eyes will light on sin, and God will strike you blind."

T21E2 "Yet this is NOT the ego's hidden fear, nor YOURS who serve it."

T21E2 "Loudly indeed the ego claims it IS."

T21E2 "For underneath this constant shout and frantic proclamation, the ego is NOT certain it is so."

T21E2 "Beneath your fear to look within because of sin is yet ANOTHER fear, and one which makes the ego tremble."

T21E2 "This "fearful" question is one the ego NEVER asks."

T21E2 "And you who ask it now ARE "threatening" the ego's whole defensive system too seriously for it to bother to PRETEND it is your friend."

T21E3 "Those who have joined their brothers HAVE detached themselves from their belief that their identity lies in the ego."

T21E3 "And what your reason tells you now, the ego would not hear."

T21E4 "The Holy Spirit's purpose was accepted by the part of your mind the ego knows not of."

T21E4 "And now you recognize that it was NOT the ego that joined the Holy Spirit's purpose, and so there MUST be something else."

T21E6 "And now the ego IS afraid."

T21E6 "But what it hears in terror, the OTHER part hears as the sweetest music; the song it longed to hear since first the ego came into your minds."

T21E6 "The ego's weakness is ITS strength."

T21E6 "And now it sees that Heaven HAS come to earth at last, from which the ego's rule has kept it out so long."

T21E7 "Look gently on each other, and remember the ego's WEAKNESS is revealed in BOTH your sight."

T21E7 "What it would keep apart has met and joined, and looks upon the ego unafraid."

T21F1 "The still small Voice for God, is NOT drowned out by all the ego's raucous screams and senseless ravings, to those who WANT to hear."

T21F3 "Listen to what the ego says, and see what it DIRECTS you see, and it is sure that you will see YOURSELF as tiny, vulnerable, and afraid."

T21F4 "Miracles seem unnatural to the ego, because it does not understand how SEPARATE minds can influence each other."

T21F7 "Yet such is clearly NOT the ego's "reasoning.""

T21F7 "Its alien nature, TO THE EGO, is proof you will NOT find the answer there."

T21F9 "For reason is BEYOND the ego's range of means."

T21F10 "The ego NEVER uses it, because it does not realize that it EXISTS."

T21F12 "Faith and belief have shifted, and you HAVE asked the question that the ego will NEVER ask."

T22C1 "Only to the ego, to which TRUTH is meaningless, do they APPEAR to be the only alternatives, and DIFFERENT from each other."

T22C4 "Both reason AND the ego will tell you this."

T22C5 "The ego will assure you now that it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to see NO guilt in anyone."

T22C6 "For here, the separation of you and the ego MUST be made complete."

T22C6 "Yet, to the ego, they MUST be impossible, and no-one undertakes to do what holds NO hope of EVER being done."

T22D1 "The introduction of reason into the ego's thought system is the beginning of its undoing."

T22D1 "For reason and the ego are CONTRADICTORY."

T22D1 "And here do reason and the ego separate, to go their DIFFERENT ways."

T22D2 "The ego's whole continuance depends on its belief you cannot learn this course."

T22D2 "The ego's OPPOSITION to correction leads to its fixed belief in sin, and DISREGARD of errors."

T22D3 "Thus does the ego damn, and reason save."

T22D4 "ONLY the form of error attracts the ego."

T22D4 "Sin is but error in a special form the ego venerates."

T22F2 "Consider what the ego wants defenses FOR."

T22G17 "Do not attempt to keep a little of the ego with this gift."

T22G17 "What teaches you you CANNOT separate, DENIES the ego."

T23B1 "Conflict WITHIN you MUST imply that you believe the ego has the power TO BE VICTORIOUS."

T23B1 "Surely you realize the ego IS at war with God."

T23B2 "The ego ALWAYS marches to defeat, BECAUSE it thinks that triumph over you is possible."

T23B3 "Be certain that it is impossible God and the ego, or yourself and it, will EVER meet."

T23B3 "For your beliefs converge upon the body, the ego's chosen home, which you believe is YOURS."

T23B3 "The ego joins with an ILLUSION of yourself you SHARE with it."

T23B3 "The ego joins with nothing, BEING nothing."

T23C8 "Think not the ego will enable you to find ESCAPE from what it wants."

T23C8 "THAT is the function of this course, which does NOT value what the ego cherishes."

T23C9 "The ego values only what it TAKES."

T23C13 "Behold, unveiled, the ego's secret gift, torn from your brother's body; hidden there in malice and in hatred for the one to whom the gift belongs."

T24C1 "Comparison MUST be an ego device, for love makes none."

T25F3 "And yet, beneath the ego's senseless shrieks, such IS the Call that God has given him, that YOU might hear in him His Call to YOU, and answer by returning unto God what is His own."

W13L2 "It represents a situation in which God and the ego "challenge" each other as to whose meaning is to be written in the empty space which meaninglessness provides."

W13L2 "The ego rushes in frantically to establish its own "ideas" there, fearful that the void may otherwise be used to demonstrate its own unreality."

W13L3 "To the ego illusions are safety devices, as they must also be to you who equate yourself with the ego."

W25L2 "You perceive the world and everything in it as meaningful in terms of ego goals."

W25L2 "These goals have nothing to do with your own best interests, because the ego is not you."

W36L1 "Your sight is related to His holiness, not to your ego and therefore not to your body."

W44L5 "Perceived through the ego's eyes, it is loss of identity and a descent into hell."

W44L6 "If you can stand aside from the ego ever so little, you will have no difficulty in recognizing that its opposition and fears are meaningless."

W50L2 "They are songs of praise to the ego."

W61L2 "To the ego, today's idea is the epitome of self-glorification."

W61L2 "But the ego does not understand humility, mistaking it for self-debasement."

W61L2 "It is only arrogance that would assert this function cannot be for you, and arrogance is always of the ego."

W61L7 "Today's idea goes far beyond the ego's petty views of what you are and what your purpose is."

W64L3 "It is only the arrogance of the ego which leads you to question this, and only the fear of the ego which induces you to regard yourself as unworthy of the task assigned to you by God Himself."

W66L2 "The ego does constant battle with the Holy Spirit on the fundamental question of what your function is."

W66L2 "The ego attacks and the Holy Spirit does not respond."

W66L3 "We will not indulge the ego by listening to its attacks on truth."

W66L7 "One is ruled by the ego, and is made up of illusions."

W66L7 "There are no other guides but these to choose between, and no other outcomes possible as a result of your choice but the fear which the ego always engenders and the love which the Holy Spirit always offers to replace it."

W66L8 "Thus it must be that your function is established by God through His Voice or is made by the ego which you made to replace Him."

W66L8 "Unless God gave your function to you, it must be the gift of the ego."

W66L8 "Does the ego really have gifts to give, being itself an illusion and offering only the illusion of gifts?"

W66L9 "Think also about the many forms which the illusion of your function has taken in your mind, and the many ways in which you try to find salvation under the ego's guidance."

W66L9 "Remember the outcomes fairly, and consider also whether it was ever reasonable to expect happiness from anything the ego has ever proposed."

W66L9 "Yet the ego is the only alternative to the Holy Spirit's Voice."

W67L6 "This is the Voice of truth, replacing everything that the ego tells you about yourself with the simple truth about the Son of God."

W68L1 "It is the decision to let the ego rule your mind, and to condemn the body to death."

W71L1 "You may not realize that the ego has set up a plan for salvation in opposition to God's."

W71L1 "Since it is the opposite of God's, you also believe that to accept God's plan in place of the ego's is to be damned."

W71L1 "Yet after we have considered just what the ego's plan is, perhaps you will realize that, however preposterous it may be, you do believe in it."

W71L2 "The ego's plan for salvation centers around holding grievances."

W71L4 "Such is the ego's plan for your salvation."

W71L4 "Surely you can see how it is in strict accord with the ego's basic doctrine, "Seek but do not find?""

W72L1 "While we have recognized that the ego's plan for salvation is the opposite of God's, we have not yet emphasized that it is an active attack on His plan, and a deliberate attempt to destroy it."

W72L1 "In the attack, God is assigned the attributes which are actually associated with the ego, while the ego appears to take on the attributes of God."

W72L2 "The ego's fundamental wish is to replace God."

W72L2 "In fact, the ego is the physical embodiment of this wish."

W72L2 "Yet the ego would have you believe that it is."

W72L6 "To this carefully prepared arena, where angry animals seek for prey and mercy cannot enter, the ego comes to save you."

W72L11 "We are no longer asking the ego what salvation is and where to find it."

W73L1 "This is not the same as the ego's idle wishes, out of which darkness and nothingness arise."

W73L1 "The ego's idle wishes are unshared, and therefore have no power at all."

W73L2 "The wishes of the ego gave rise to it, and the ego's need for grievances, which are necessary to maintain it, peoples it with figures which seem to attack you and call for "righteous" judgment."

W73L2 "They become the "middlemen" the ego employs to traffic in grievances, and stand between your awareness and your brother's reality."

W73L4 "Darkness has vanished; the ego's idle wishes have been withdrawn."

W73L6 "Forget the ego's arguments which seek to prove all this is really Heaven."

W73L7 "Today it is the ego which stands powerless before your will."

W75L4 "We do not see the ego's shadow on the world today."

W82L6 ""This may threaten my ego, but cannot change my function in any way.""

W94L1 "Today we continue with the one idea which brings complete salvation; the one statement which makes all forms of temptation powerless; the one thought which renders the ego silent and entirely undone."

W106L1 "If you will lay aside the ego's voice however loudly it may seem to call; if you will not accept its petty gifts which give you nothing that you really want; if you will listen with an open mind which has not told you what salvation is; then you will hear the mighty Voice of truth, quiet in power, strong in stillness, and completely certain in Its messages."

W126L1 "Today's idea, completely alien to the ego and the thinking of the world, is crucial to the thought reversal which this course will bring about."

W133L8 "Here it is easiest of all to be deceived, for what the ego wants it fails to recognize."

W133L9 "He will believe that he has served the ego's hidden goals."

W133L10 "He who would still preserve the ego's goals and serve them as his own makes no mistakes according to the dictates of his guide."

W133L11 "If you feel any guilt about your choice, you have allowed the ego's goals to come between the real alternatives, and thus you do not realize there are but two."

W151L4 "You merely can believe the ego's judgments, all of which are false."

W151L8 "He recognizes only what God loves, and in the holy light of what He sees do all the ego's dreams of what you are vanish before the splendor He beholds."

W151L10 "What whispers of the ego can He hear?"

W152L9 "Today we practice true humility, abandoning the false pretense by which the ego seeks to prove it arrogant."

W152L9 "Only the ego can be arrogant."

W153L4 "Defenses are the costliest of all the prices which the ego would exact."

W196L2 "It may, in fact, appear to be a sign that punishment can never be escaped because the ego, under what it sees as threat, is quick to cite the truth to save its lies."

W196L3 "Thus do you also teach your mind that you are not an ego."

W196L3 "For the ways in which the ego would distort the truth will not deceive you longer."

W199L3 "Be not concerned that to the ego it is quite insane."

W199L3 "The ego holds the body dear because it dwells in it, and lives united with the home that it has made."

W254L2 "Today we let no ego thoughts direct our words or actions."

W319L1 "But where there is no arrogance, the truth will come immediately, and fill up the space the ego left unoccupied by his."

W319L1 "Only the ego can be limited, and therefore it must seek for aims which are curtailed and limiting."

W319L1 "The ego thinks that what one gains totality must lose."

W330W121 "The ego is idolatry; the sign of limited and separated self, born in a body, doomed to suffer and to end its life in death."

W330W121 "The ego is the "proof" that strength is weak and love is fearful, life is really death, and what opposes God alone is true."

W330W122 "The ego is insane."

W330W124 "To know Reality is not to know the ego and its thoughts, its works, its acts, its laws and its beliefs, its dreams, its hopes, its plans for its salvation, and the cost belief in it entails."

W332L1 "The ego makes illusions."

M5B2 "And who would place his faith in the shabby offerings of the ego when the gifts of God are laid before him?"

M23A3 "The idea that a body can be sick is a central concept in the ego's thought system."

M23A5 "In allowing this to happen, he has identified with another's ego, and has thus confused him with a body."

M25A3 "His ego will be enough for him to cope with, and it is not the part of wisdom to add sectarian controversies to his burdens."

M26A4 "Yet the ego sees in these same strengths an opportunity to glorify itself."

M26A5 "As investment has been withdrawn from the world's material gifts the ego has been seriously threatened."

M26A5 "Many have not seen through the ego's defenses here, although they are not particularly subtle."

M26A6 ""Psychic" abilities have been used to call upon the devil, which merely means to strengthen the ego."

U1A3 "This course remains within the ego framework, where it is needed."

U1A3 "It is always the ego that questions because it is only the ego that doubts."

U1A3 "These are attributes of the ego."

U1A4 "The ego will demand many answers this course does not give."

U1A4 "The ego may ask, "How did the impossible occur?","

U2A2 "It is therefore described in the course AS IF it has two parts; spirit and ego."

U2A5 "WRONG-MINDEDNESS listens to the ego and makes illusions; perceiving sin and justifying anger, and seeing guilt, disease and death as real."

U2A6 "CONSCIOUSNESS is the receptive mechanism, receiving messages from above or below; from the Holy Spirit or the ego."

U3A1 "It is the ego's world because of this."

U3A1 "What is the ego?"

U3A2 "What is the ego?"

U3A2 "In a world of form the ego cannot be denied for it alone seems real."

U3A2 "Who asks you to define the ego and explain how it arose can be but he who thinks it real, and seeks by definition to ensure that its illusive nature is concealed behind the words that seem to make it so."

U3A3 "The ego's unreality is not denied by words nor is its meaning clear because its nature seems to have a form."

U3A4 "We cannot really make a definition for what the ego is, but we CAN say what it is not."

U3A4 "It is from this that we deduce all that the ego is."

U3A5 "The ego's opposite in every way,--in origin, effect and consequence--we call a miracle."

U3A5 "And here we find all that is not the ego in the world."

U3A5 "Here is the ego's opposite and here alone we look on what the ego was."

U3A6 "What was the ego?"

U3A6 "Where was the ego?"

U3A6 "What is the ego?"

U3A6 "Where is the ego?"

U3A6 "What is the ego?"

U3A6 "Where is the ego?"

U3A9 "Ask this instead of what the ego is, and you will see a sudden brightness cover up the world the ego made."

U3A10 "The miracle forgives; the ego damns."

U4A7 "That must be so because the ego cannot be at peace."

P3B2 "This is one of the errors which the ego fosters; that it is capable of true change, and therefore of true creativity."

P3B2 "When we speak of "the saving illusion" or "the final dream," this is not what we mean, but here is the ego's last defense."

P3B2 "The "changes" the ego seeks to make are not really changes."

P3B3 "Nor can the Holy Spirit fight against the intrusions of the ego on the therapeutic process."

P3C2 "The attempt to formalize religion is so obviously an ego attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable that it hardly requires elaboration here."

P3C8 "Only by doing this is it possible to transcend the narrow boundaries the ego would impose upon the self."

Quotes on "Egos"

T4A6 "I cannot guide your egos EXCEPT as you associate them with your Souls."

T4B11 "I never attack your egos (in spite of H's strange beliefs to the contrary), but I DO try to teach them how their thought-systems have arisen."

T4B11 "When I remind you of your TRUE Creation, your egos cannot BUT respond with fear."

T4B16 "Egos can clash in any situation, but Souls cannot clash at all."

T4B25 "But your egos have chosen to be afraid INSTEAD of meeting it."

T4B31 "Of your egos you can do nothing to save yourselves or others."

T4B32 "The meek shall inherit the earth because their egos are humble, and this gives them better perception."

T4B34 "The reason why I can be entrusted with YOUR body and YOUR egos is simply because this enables YOU not to be concerned with them, and ME to teach you their unimportance."

T4C16 "It is forced to perceive the "reality" of other egos, because it CANNOT establish the reality of itself."

T4C16 "In fact, its whole perception of other egos AS real is ONLY an attempt to convince itself that IT is real."

T4C19 "This is such a fearful state that it can only turn to other egos, and unite with them in a feeble attempt at identification, or attack them in an equally feeble show of strength."

T4D11 "You who identify with your egos cannot believe that God loves you."

T4E1 "Your minds are filled with schemes to save the face of your egos, and you do not seek the Face of God."

T4E18 "I assure you this is a mistake of your own egos."

T4E19 "Your egos are trying to convince you that THEY are real, and I am not, because if I AM real, I am no more real than YOU are."

T4F19 "Your own egos have been blocking the more important questions which your minds should ask."

T4G10 "You have very little trust in me as yet, but it will increase as you turn more and more often to me instead of to your egos for guidance."

T4H3 "While this is always so, individual egos perceive different kinds of threat, which are quite specific in their own judgment."

T4H11 "The truly helpful are invulnerable, because they are NOT protecting their egos, so that nothing CAN hurt them."

T4I7 "The real handicaps of the clinicians lie in their attitudes to those whom their egos perceive as weakened and damaged."

T5H4 "Your egos cannot accept this freedom, and will oppose your free decision at every possible moment, and in every possible way."

T6F13 "Egos DO join together in temporary allegiance, but always for WHAT EACH ONE CAN GET SEPARATELY."

T9A1 "Egos are critical in terms of the kind of sense they STAND FOR."

T15C4 "You who have spent days, hours, and even years, in chaining your brothers TO your egos, in an attempt to support it, and uphold its WEAKNESS, do not perceive the Source of STRENGTH."

T17F9 "And do not now breathe life into your failing egos."

Quotes on "Egocentric"

T2E44 "He is apt to forget this when he becomes egocentric, and this places him in a position where belief in magic is virtually inevitable."

T2E57 "He is apt to forget this when he becomes egocentric, and this places him in a position where belief in magic is virtually inevitable."

T4A2 "To be egocentric IS to be dispirited."

T4B22 "Bill, if you will to be a devoted teacher rather than an egocentric one, you will not be afraid."

Quotes on "Egocentricity"

T1B3D "Embarrassment is only a form of fear, and actually a particularly dangerous form because it reflects egocentricity."

T2B71 "Their egocentricity usually misperceives this as personally insulting, an interpretation which obviously arises from their misperception of themselves."

T2B71 "Egocentricity and communion cannot coexist."

T2C14 "They are therefore likely to misunderstand any healing they might induce, and, because egocentricity and fear usually occur together, may be unable to accept the real Source of the healing."

T3C25 "Anyone who is unable to leave the requests of others unanswered has not entirely transcended egocentricity."

T4A4 "Embarrassment is ALWAYS an expression of egocentricity, an association which has been made before."

Quotes on "Egoless"

W330W123 "The Son of God is egoless."

P3D3 "One wholly egoless therapist could heal the world without a word, merely by being there."

P3D4 "In a sense, the egoless psychotherapist is an abstraction that stands at the end of the process of healing, too advanced to believe in sickness and too near to God to keep his feet on earth."

Quotes on "Egotistically"

T4A7 "He then set about to alter his perception, NOT by correcting his misidentification, but by behaving egotistically."

T4G9 "Whenever you react egotistically toward each other, you are throwing away the graciousness of your indebtedness and the holy perception it would produce."